Parents of ‘strapping’ boarders blame school for unchecked culture of abuse

Parents of senior boarders accused of the violent abuse of fellow students in the dorms at Ballarat Grammar say the blame for the “strapping” scandal is all on the school.

The prestigious private school was thrown into turmoil in February after at least 10 boarding students were reported to police over claims that they had used straps to “punish” children as young as year 7 level, with at least 12 victims thought to be involved.

Two senior students have been expelled over the allegations, after a school investigation. Another group – believed to number up to 10 students – were removed from the school’s Dart House accommodation block and are now staying in an off-campus house belonging to the school while continuing to attend the school as day students.

But correspondence to the school from a group of parents, formed in the days after the allegations went public and titled “the coalition of boarding parents”, show that boarding families were lobbying the school from very early on to impose little or no punishment on those guilty of “strapping” their younger schoolmates.

In a letter to the school’s board, written days after the allegations, the unnamed parents told the directors that their boys could not be held responsible, after being steeped for years in the strapping culture.

The Age has spoken to several men who recounted stories of brutal hazing and assaults at the hands of their fellow boarders at Ballarat Grammar, going back to the 1950s.

The families say inadequate responses by the school to serious incidents in the boarding house over the years led directly to the latest round of alleged assaults.

They referred to a 2023 incident, in which a 12-year-old boy sustained a third-degree burn when a heated spoon was applied to his leg, and the perpetrator was allowed to continue his studies at Ballarat Grammar.

“Instead of acknowledging and correcting the complete inadequacy of adult supervision in boarding houses, the school appears to be shifting focus onto students, as if they alone bear the responsibility for perpetuating this culture,” the parents wrote.

“This is both unfair and dangerous.

“These students, now facing scrutiny, have been acting on learned behaviours ingrained by the very system that the school put in place and failed to reform.

“The responsibly lies squarely with the staff and administration.

“It is not the students who are to blame, it is those who had the power to stop this cycle and chose not to.”

But two sources close to the parent community, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivities around the matter, told The Age that parents of alleged victims remained unhappy at what they perceived as the lenient treatment of the senior students.

Families of those accused of strapping, meanwhile, believed their sons had been treated harshly, the sources confirmed, and continued to actively lobby for the return of the off-campus group to Dart House.

Ballarat Grammar declined to answer questions on the status of those boys.

“Ballarat Grammar has a policy of not disclosing information about individuals; this is in line with Australian Privacy Principles,” a spokesperson said.

Victoria Police confirmed that its investigation was “ongoing”, and the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, responsible for enforcing child safety standards in educational establishments, also confirmed that it continued to investigate but would not provide details, citing procedural fairness.

Private security guards have been hired to patrol the halls of Dart House at night, in a major break with tradition at the school, which traces its history back more than a century and where boarders have always been left to supervise themselves overnight.

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