Shouldn’t Wesley College be teaching math or science rather than exorcisms?

WTF is this?

Methodist Church launches probe into whistleblower claims of exorcism rituals at Wesley College

Two staff members at Wesley College have been suspended amid concerns the Pentecostal-like ceremonies were carried out in darkened rooms and without parental consent.

Ummm.

I’m no Educational Academic with a PHD in Pedagogy, but shouldn’t Wesley College be teaching math or science rather than exorcisms?

Look.

One of the important values in our Western Democracy is the freedom of religion.

If you need to believe in a magical, flying wizard for your day to day ethical choices, knock yourself out.

Don’t attempt to enforce that fairy tale on the rest of us however.

NZ is a secular state, we really shouldn’t be allowing  a state-integrated secondary school that is part of the New Zealand state education system and receives government funding to be like, you know, performing exorcisms!

When you consider the recent troubled history of Wesley College…

• Emails from staff saying boarding hostel cameras were inoperable for up to two months in early 2024, despite requests for them to be fixed due to safety concerns. 
• A March 2024 email from a senior staff member discussed an alleged assault on a Year 12 boy who was kicked in the head, with the attack videoed by another student. Extra security was brought in because the cameras were “still not working”. 
• Another email from a hostel dean earlier that month spoke of students in a dormitory being tired “as they are being slapped, having their nipples twisted and lockers being broken into during the night”. Another dean responded that one student was “sleeping with one eye open in fear he would be harassed”, but no consequences had been handed down to the boys who “tormented this young man”. 
• A March 2025 email from a hostel worker to then board chairwoman Jan Tasker raised a formal complaint against a consultant for “cultural insensitivity and derogatory comments”. It alleged the consultant discussed “micro-chipping” students, using electric shocks and balls and chains, and suggesting students should be “potty trained”. The man was spoken to by a school leader, but the comments were characterised as made in humour. It’s understood the man was recently contracted to work for the school again around the hostel closures. 
• Correspondence from May 2024 highlighted concerns from another hostel worker about staff shortages, including “solo shifts that occur more than they should”. Principal Brian Evans replied: “No staff is a concern, should not happen and very high risk with the current spotlight on us.” 
• An email from a dorm dean in November 2024 raised “significant concerns regarding current communications and safety procedures”. It related to the potential suicide risk of one student not being communicated to other staff, and the student allegedly being moved to his own room without supervision. It was in their view “a serious oversight that puts our students at risk and exposes the school to significant liability”.
• It’s alleged one of the staff running the unsanctioned prayer classes travelled to Indonesia to carry out exorcism rituals on villagers. It’s claimed he showed a video of himself performing a chanting ceremony on a young village girl to at least one Wesley College student and staff member.

…it feels like this requires an intervention from the Education Ministry, which is ironic BECAUSE THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HAS ALREADY intervened over their Boarding Hostels, but the issues at this College seem to require more than Hostel Oversight, it needs curriculum oversight as well.

Again, I’m no Educational expert, but shouldn’t Wesley College be teaching math or science rather than exorcisms?

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