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Two schoolboys have been suspended from New Zealand's oldest registered school over sexual allegations relating to other boys in its hostel.
The mother of an alleged victim told the Herald she had discovered that her 12-year-old son had been jumped on by other students of Wesley College near
Pukekohe while in bed in his first weeks away from home.
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said her son's behaviour had changed in the past few weeks. "He's really moody now."
She wanted the 164-year-old school to provide specialist counselling and was considering removing her son.
The mother said the run-ins were sexual in nature.
"The boys said that sometimes, if a boy was lying on a bed, they'll jump on him and do their thing on them - you know - but they've got their clothes on. When I think about it I cringe inside. "
She said another parent had walked in to her son's dorm to find "six or seven" boys on top of him after he had spoken out.
The allegations follow an Education Review Office report last year that criticised a lack of communication between the boarding house and boarders' parents and said the hostel's student security and safety were inadequate.
They also come after a fight in the dormitory in February in which a Year 12 student got a fractured eye socket and was referred for a brain scan.
Wesley is a decile-two, state-integrated Methodist college.
Its hostel, which is not state-integrated and thus remains a private boarding establishment, accommodates about 30 girls and 260 boys - the vast majority of the school roll.
A report by boarding manager Bill Leach, following interviews with two now-suspended students, detailed how one boy admitted "dry humping" two students over three weeks.
It continued that the other boy had said he had performed the action on five students before Easter.
"It must be noted that [one boy] appeared rather naive about what he had done. [The other] was quite aware of ... the severity of his actions."
Mr Leach stood down the pair from the hostel for five days.
Principal Ian Faulkner said that after he received the report, he suspended the two boys from both the hostel and the school.
He said the Wesley College Trust Board and the school's board of trustees would meet to continue the disciplinary process.
Mr Faulkner said the law required the board of trustees to meet within the next week.
He said the suspended boys and the alleged victims were all Year 9 students and all new to the school this year.
Mr Leach's report suggested "dry humping" - or frottage as it is also known - is a widespread problem in hostels.
He wrote that the suspended pair told him everyone was "doing it".
Mr Faulkner would not detail the changes Wesley College and its hostel made in response to the recommendations in last year's ERO report.
The report said Wesley students were getting out of the hostel at night without permission.
It also said that while managers reported an overall reduction in bullying and violence, records indicated it continued to happen in the boys' hostel.
