Boarding schools set to adopt first national standards

DAVID MARK: Anyone listening to this program over the past few weeks will have heard the disturbing reports into child sexual abuse at Sydney's prestigious Knox Grammar School.

Now boarding schools across Australia say they're taking further steps to ensure that abuse will never happen within their walls again.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: Standards for boarding schools aren't a groundbreaking idea. They've existed for staff in New Zealand and the United Kingdom for years, but never in Australia.

The Australian Boarding Schools Association, or ABSA, says that's about to change.

Executive director, Richard Stokes.

RICHARD STOKES: We look at things like what their roles and responsibilities are. Making sure that they understand grooming behaviour and predatory behaviour. We look at all the sorts of issues to do with security and supervision, so that they understand what they should be doing and what they should be looking out for.

THOMAS ORITI: The new national standards for boarding schools don't just address child protection, they also cover the management of the facilities, as well as parent and community engagement. And they've been well researched.

Richard Stokes says the Boarding Schools Association has held workshops with about 4,000 people over the last four years.

RICHARD STOKES: We then got a committee together who represented all areas of interest, so that ranged from the Boards of Studies to parent groups, to Indigenous organisations. So we got together a committee of 25 people.

THOMAS ORITI: It seems obvious that every school should be prioritising the safety of its students. But as the child abuse royal commission has found, more could be done.

Dan Cox is the CEO of Boarding Australia, the association responsible for colleges and living facilities away from the school campus.

DAN COX: There's certainly an appetite for improvement across the sector. The standard in the first instance would be a voluntary one, but the expectation is that as schools become comfortable with what the standard is requiring of them, we'd be hoping that they will merge towards adopting that single national standard.

THOMAS ORITI: It appears boarding schools support the move.

Garth Wynne is the chairman of the Australian Boarding Schools Association, and the headmaster of Christ Church Grammar School in Perth.

GARTH WYNNE: Many schools of our type would have this set of standards as a component of their registration as independent schools, for example, or independent entities, or as a part of what would be registration.

These standards would certainly be adopted by schools that want to ensure that parents and others and the community appreciate that they're working toward everything that makes children safe.

THOMAS ORITI: The royal commission recently exposed decades of abuse at Sydney's Knox Grammar School.

The headmaster, John Weeks, wasn't available for comment today, but the school has released a statement, saying the standards are a positive step forward.

EXCERPT FROM KNOX GRAMMAR SCHOOL STATEMENT: Knox Grammar strongly supports the new national standards for boarding schools. Knox Grammar has in place the most comprehensive set of child protection measures, which have been placed under unprecedented scrutiny.

THOMAS ORITI: It could take some time for the document to be finalised.

The industry associations met with Standards Australia this week, the body responsible for setting standards that affect non-government institutions.

Its CEO is Dr Bronwyn Evans.

BRONWYN EVANS: There's a process now where we'll take the document through to publishing the standard, and that's likely to be happening around about May or June this year.

THOMAS ORITI: But as the boarding school sector evolves, it appears some old school attitudes are still entrenched.

On commercial radio in Sydney this week, an 80-year-old man named Brian called shock-jock John Laws, saying he'd been abused as a child.

Mr Laws questioned the man why he didn't fight back, and then called him a "wet blanket".

JOHN LAWS: Maybe you feel a little bit better having talked about it, do you?

BRIAN: Not really, more sadder than anything.

THOMAS ORITI: Hetty Johnston from the child protection group Bravehearts says the veteran broadcaster shouldn't be allowed to interview victims of abuse live on air.

HETTY JOHNSTON: He made him say "thank you" for having listened to him. It was like an abusive parent beating their child and then turning around and saying that they love them. I mean it was just bizarre. It was horrible.

DAVID MARK: That's Hetty Johnston from Bravehearts, ending that report from Thomas Oriti.