The Dilworth Trust Board encourages participation and inputs from former students, especially who were abused, to collaborate on an acknowledgement and apology for the full Dilworth community that is an honest expression of remorse and regret. Read more here.
Since its doors first opened in 1906, more than 5,500 boys have been educated at Dilworth School.
Today, Dilworth is a boarding school with three campuses offering full scholarships to all of its students, including those who attend as a day school student at the Junior Campus in Years 7/8.
The Will of founder James Dilworth set out clear instructions that his estate be used to establish a school so those from straitened circumstances may have the opportunity of a first-class education in order to be good and useful citizens.
That some students who attended Dilworth School suffered abuse during their time at Dilworth is completely unacceptable.
Dilworth Response represents the efforts and commitment that Dilworth Trust Board has been and continues to make in fully, openly and honestly confronting the issue of historical sexual and other abuse that occurred at Dilworth School.
Dilworth participated fully in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and the NZ Police investigation Operation Beverly, which resulted in the prosecution and conviction of a large number of the perpetrators of the abuse. Dilworth will continue to provide support to former students who have been abused in their complaints to the Police.
On behalf of Dilworth, Board Chair Aaron Snodgrass has apologised to all former students who were abused while in Dilworth’s care and to their families and whānau. In doing so, he has acknowledged that the School's procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse were inadequate and did not meet the standards that would be expected.
To support former students who were abused during their time at the School, an independent, confidential Listening Service was launched in September 2019. This provides access to fully funded professional psychological services and support.
Since its inception, the Listening Service has helped hundreds of former students who have been abused and their whānau to access confidential, fully funded psychological support services in New Zealand and other parts of the world.
In 2022, Dilworth established an Independent Inquiry and an independent Redress Programme as part of its response to the issue of abuse.
To guide the establishment of these programmes, Dilworth Trust Board undertook a consultation process involving former students who were abused at Dilworth, those affected by the abuse and the wider Dilworth community. The two programmes are independent of each other, with no oversight, influence, or involvement by the Board, and are guided by Terms of Reference which benefitted from consultation with former students.
The Independent Inquiry, led by Dame Silvia Cartwright with Frances Joychild KC as Co-Inquirer, published its report on 18 September 2023. You can read the Report here. The Board has accepted and is acting on all 19 of the Inquiry Report’s recommendations and Dilworth Response has created an Implementation Dashboard that tracks progress made.
The independent Redress Programme was launched on 29 August 2022 and is designed to support former students who were abused through various forms of redress including a financial settlement, access to funded psychological therapy and support, an apology, and other forms of personalised redress.
Over the last five years Dilworth School has actively made major changes to the way it works to care for and protect its students.
Headmaster Dan Reddiex and the staff at Dilworth School are committed to providing a safe and caring school environment where there is zero tolerance for abuse of any kind.
Dilworth has adopted the Australian Principles for Child Safe Organisations, developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which underpin the policies, procedures, practices, and culture within the School to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of all tamariki/rangatahi are at the forefront of everything the School does and are at the centre of every decision that is made.
As a result of the development and implementation of child safe policies, processes and culture, Dilworth School received Child Wise Accreditation in September 2022 – and is the first school in New Zealand to gain this recognition.