Bishops Diocesan College rocked by bullying scandal

Top private school Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town has been shaken by a boarding house bullying scandal which led to an assaulted pupil being hospitalised.

Bishops’ principal Tony Reeler confirmed the incident in a letter to parents on Wednesday. He described the incident as “shocking”.  

“I write this with a heavy heart as it is my sad duty to inform you of a recently concluded disciplinary inquiry into a shocking late night assault at one of our boarding houses last week,” the letter reads.  

Reeler said seven pupils had been charged with breaching the school’s code of conduct after the assault at Founders boarding house.  

“These actions were also in breach of our anti-bullying policy,” the letter reads.  

“The dreadful incident sadly resulted in the short-term hospitalisation of one of the boys. Thankfully he was discharged after two days, and our understanding is that he is well on the way to a full recovery. Support was immediately made available to the pupils in the boarding house. In particular, we are supporting the pupil who was hospitalised and his family.”

Reeler said the school did not usually publicly comment on “confidential pupil matters, particularly if they may relate to disciplinary or duty of care issues”. But he said an independent advocate chairing the disciplinary process had “recommended the strongest possible sanctions for those found guilty”.  

He said the boys had five days to appeal the findings.  

“I do not want to prejudice this process in any way by commenting further on details of the assault or the ongoing appeals process, suffice to say any form of bullying or physical violence has absolutely no place at Bishops, and the conduct of the perpetrators here is condemned in the strongest possible terms, no matter what their role or intention.” 

He said “anti-bullying messages had been shared countless times with the pupils and staff at Bishops, which makes this shocking violation of the trust placed in senior pupils in particular so difficult to understand and process”. 

“I want to assure the Bishops community that the school will be introducing additional security measures in each boarding house to improve safeguarding with immediate effect, and will be initiating an independent review of boarding practices and procedures within the next 30 days,” the letter reads. 

“How we respond to this dreadful and shocking incident will help us ensure this is the last time Bishops has to share news of this nature with our school community. Now is the time to stand together against behaviour of this kind, often justified in the name of ‘tradition’ or the desire to seek justice for a perceived wrongdoing or disrespect.” 

TimesLIVE has requested comment from Bishops Diocesan College and this article will be updated when it is received.

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