In 2009 the Law Commission of New Zealand recommended several much needed reforms to protect the welfare of children at private schools.  Although the National Government failed to listen, missing the immediate opportunity to close dangerous legal loop-holes which effectively allow ‘cowboy schools’ to operate with impunity, a further Education Amendment Bill is now in preparation.  This promotional trailer from Amazon Films questions the lack of respect from a Government towards the rigorous research of its own Law Commission, and seeks to raise awareness of this situation among a population who are almost entirely unaware of the situation, as a recent survey showed.

Through our research into these matters following the unlawful actions of the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School, we are proud to be making of it something which has the potential to change conditions for many of the 33,000 children in New Zealand who attend private schools.  During the passage of Education Amendment Bill 2, important gains in understanding were made among several Opposition MPs and we look forward to the opportunity to build on this success in due course.

Our own efforts to address bullying in a New Zealand private school sadly resulted in real damage to our family and especially to our children, as the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner school was unable to take responsibility for its own failings and projected them onto us, using the very loopholes which the Law Commission recommended should be closed.

As Paddy Delaney, Trustee said shortly afterwards;

“You are being blamed for everything that is wrong in the school rather than seen as the catalyst of change that is needed” 

Sadly, Paddy did not have the strength to maintain the courage of his convictions in the face of the closed attitude of other Trustees, Management and College, and he allowed his legal responsibility to act on this certitude to be compromised, thus opening the school further to both legal and financial danger - the very things that the Trustees are there to prevent.

In spite of the manifest failures of any and all protective mechanisms in regard to our children’s welfare, in approaching this subject matter over the past 22 months, we have constantly worked to transform our own misfortune into something which has the power to enhance the public good.

Update (19-3-11)

We are pleased to say that further to our previous posting, constructive developments with the Human Rights Commission mean that we will not be making further posts on this site at present.