# Grammar culture review highlights 'reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths' **By:** Michelle Smith **Published:** 2026-07-23T06:08:25.330807+00:00 **Source:** [The Courier](https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/9316080/ballarat-grammar-accepts-44-recommendations-after-damning-review) --- Ad Subscribe Breaking By Michelle Smith Updated July 23 2026 - 6:58am, first published 6:08am By Michelle Smith Updated July 23 2026 - 6:58am, first published 6:08am - A damning review of Ballarat Grammar culture has outlined a "reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths" as contributing to harm and exclusion experienced within the school community. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading Save 30% All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper All other in your area The Intersection review, a school-wide cultural review, was commissioned after allegations of peer-to-peer abuse in the school's boys' boarding house. Investigators interviewed more than 850 individuals across the school community, including current and former students, teachers, staff, parents, and families. The 209-page report found "significant and persistent cultural challenges" with some students reporting they felt unsafe and unsupported. It cited inconsistent behaviour management, poor communication, "normalised" harmful practices and discriminatory behaviour resulting from a combination of significant growth, insufficient oversight and cultural complacency. Ballarat Grammar will adopt 44 recommendations made as part of an independent review into school culture. File picture The review made 44 recommendations for change across seven areas of the school: the student experience, the boarding experience, the parent experience, the employee experience, governance, policy and change management. The Ballarat Grammar board and school leadership have accepted, in principle, all the recommendations and have begun implementing them in consultation with the school community. It is the second independent review following allegations of abuse in the boys-only Dart boarding house, which resulted in two students being expelled. An earlier review - the Fenner Review into the Dart House incidents - made 32 recommendations for boarding operations, of which the school agreed to implement 31. Those changes include restructured supervision arrangements, the introduction of whistleblower and anonymous reporting systems, revised codes of conduct, additional training, and physical modifications to boarding facilities. Harmful practices 'normalised' One of the Intersection report's most significant findings in relation to boarding was "the degree to which harmful practices have been normalised" to the point they were described and defended as positive by boarding students, staff and parents. "Many current boarders genuinely experienced the lower-level rituals and bonding activities as positive, community-building and enjoyable. For them, doona raids and house runs really were fun and really did build togetherness," the review states. "The difficulty is that these practices exist on a continuum with behaviours that are clearly harmful, and the normalisation of the lower end makes it progressively harder for anyone within the system to identify where acceptable behaviour ends and harmful behaviour begins. The report states the culture of silence around boarding houses - expressed through the unwritten rule of "what happens in boarding, stays in boarding" - contributed to harmful practices persisting without challenge. Historical experiences shared by former students raised numerous examples of hazing involving rituals around pornography, sexualised performances, sexual abuse, harassment, assault and intimidation, and being physically hit by older students. As a queer/neurodivergent person, it's quite unsettling... how normalised it is by students to make jokes about things like race, sex, gender. - Ballarat Grammar student The review stated that the historical counts were not isolated but established a "depth and longevity of cultural patterns" that were still operating, in modified form, in the current boarding environment. Day student experiences The Intersection report also delved deeply into the experiences of day students, staff, parents and families. Students reported experiences of discrimination based on race, sexuality, disability and gender and often struggled to get support to deal with the issues. The review heard that some aspects of the school's structures and traditions reinforce unhelpful or outdated norms - particularly around expectations of masculinity, loyalty or silence - which discourage help-seeking, accountability or respectful relationships. "Students described a judgmental atmosphere and a sense that there were certain groups they could not be part of," as cliques formed around sporting interests, subject groups or boarding status," the report stated. Ballarat Grammar principal Adam Heath. Picture supplied Students also described hierarchies around popularity, gender, family background, wealth and sporting achievement that one student said "brings some toxicity into the environment". One student said there was "a shame that comes with standing out" while students seen as different were more likely to get bullied. Intersection identified a significant gap between Ballarat Grammar's inclusive values and the experiences of some students from minority groups. They also found evidence that this gap has been perpetuated in part by staff behaviour and institutional inaction. Students targeted over background and culture In the senior school, 28 per cent of survey respondents said they had seen or experienced targeting based on family background and culture in the school. We are committed to working tirelessly to nurture the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of everyone in our community. - Ballarat Grammar principal Adam Heath "I've noticed that if you don't have 'normal' interests, are plus sized, a person of colour, queer, or neurodivergent, teasing/unkind behaviour is common. As a queer/neurodivergent person, it's quite unsettling... how normalised it is by students to make jokes about things like race, sex, gender, etc," one middle school student said. Some students reported being pressured to change their appearance to fit in, and if they did not comply said they "would get hit" and "would be encouraged to commit self-harm or suicide". "Students expressed feeling unsafe and observed or experienced discrimination and assault, compounded by a culture of not speaking up," the review stated. Students also raised concerns regarding a lack of accountability and consequences for actions: "They [aggressors] get a slap on the wrist and nothing else and it honestly encourages them to escalate their behaviours. When I used the anonymous reporting service, my report was deleted and not acted upon, so it needs to totally change as I am never using it in its current state again but desperately need to," one said. While explicit behavioural expectations are taught through junior and middle school, the review noted that guidance tails off in senior years. It recommends further education for students on how to treat each other outside the classroom in houses, in boarding, in unsupervised spaces and online. Ballarat Grammar will adopt 44 recommendations made as part of an independent review into school culture. File picture Communication and transparency emerged as areas of significant frustration across all groups with students, parents and employees describing a lack of clarity about decisions, expectations, processes and change. The school's response School board chair Sarah Lia acknowledged some members of the community have felt harmed or excluded during their time at Ballarat Grammar. "For that we unreservedly apologise," she said. Ms Lia thanked those who took part in the review for their honesty, courage and thoughtfulness. Ballarat Grammar principal Adam Heath said the school had completed five of the report's recommendations and made progress on a further 36. "We are committed to working tirelessly to nurture the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of everyone in our community," he said. "We recognise there are findings that may be confronting for members of our community. We are deeply sorry that some of our current and former students, staff and families have, at times, felt hurt or unsupported." In a video to families, he said the review "represents a defining moment for our school" and its broader community. "The report reflects the honesty, the bravery, and the lived experience of many members of our community. We acknowledge this report contains findings which some of you may find confronting or distressing." Mr Heath said the positive attributes outlined in the report would be used to build the school's future success. The downside of growth The report found many of the issues at the school are a result of the school's rapid growth, with enrolment almost doubling over the past 25 years and increasing by almost 48 per cent over the past decade. "The school's growth had outpaced its investment in organisational structure, role clarity and leadership development," the report said. "The result is a community that still operates, in many respects, as though it were smaller and simpler than it is. Informal practices that worked in a smaller school, including verbal agreements, discretionary decision-making and reliance on personal relationships as a management tool, have not been replaced by the structured systems a larger institution requires. "The pressure the review identifies is... not a shortage of classroom teachers relative to enrolments. It lies in the areas a headline teaching ratio does not capture: specialist and learning support staffing for students with additional needs, supervision in the boarding houses, and the systems, structures and leadership capacity needed to run a substantially larger and more complex organisation," the report states. "Trust in leadership has been eroded, particularly since the boarding incidents became public." The review acknowledged the school has substantially rebuilt policy framework in the second half of 2025 and into 2026. It found a "pattern of cultural avoidance" existed at the school. "The review heard repeated examples of issues that were known but not confronted: harmful boarding practices that persisted over years; discriminatory behaviour that was witnessed but not acted on; parent conduct that was tolerated because of the perceived consequences of challenging it; staff concerns that were raised but not followed through," the report stated. "This pattern reflects an institutional tendency to prioritise harmony over accountability, to manage discomfort rather than address its source. This speaks to organisational silence, where members of an institution withhold information about problems because they believe speaking up is futile or unsafe." Governance and operations Another major issue was a gap between governance and operations. "This gap has contributed to a pattern in which commitments are made at the governance level that are not reliably delivered at the operational level, and in which risks that are visible at the operational level do not reach the board until they materialise publicly. "The Board's capacity to assess whether its policies are being implemented in practice, whether its stated values are being lived across the school, and whether emerging risks are being identified and managed is constrained by gaps in data, reporting and operational visibility." Ballarat Grammar will adopt 44 recommendations made as part of an independent review into school culture. File picture The report noted that the school also does not have a centralised system to record, track and analyse incidents, complaints and behavioural concerns across its various reporting channels. "Reports made through different pathways (Whispli, Student Support Officers, the Wellbeing Team, the Health Centre, Heads of House, classroom teachers and counsellors) are not connected. This means the school cannot reliably identify patterns, track whether responses are adequate and timely or provide the Board with an accurate picture of risk. "Without this infrastructure, accountability is episodic and reactive rather than systemic and preventive." "The challenges identified through this review are systemic. They reflect patterns that have developed over time through a combination of significant growth, insufficient oversight, cultural complacency and a reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths." The review also pointed out the strengths of the school and said its community support, institutional resources and external impetus put it in a position to make change. The 44 recommendations of the Intersection review include: A redesign of the school's house system to make them co-educational, with both boarding and day students as members of each house to remove the gendering of houses and promote diversity and inclusion, Overhauling incident reporting, response and communication for incidents of bullying, harassment, discrimination and harmful behaviour and reporting back to the board on incident data, behavioural patterns and systemic risk, Restructuring boarding houses by age to reduce the "power differential" between older and younger students, Closing the boarding dining hall during school hours to reduce separation between boarders, who currently eat separately from day students, Requiring school leadership to report quarterly to the board on boarding culture indicators including incident data, rates of anonymous reports, staffing data including turnover and vacancy rates, and student feedback on safety and wellbeing. Addressing the gender dynamics of boarding through targeted education and cultural change, Developing and publishing clear, accessible complaints and concerns processes for parents and students, Ensuring behavioural standards and policies are applied consistently so that harmful behaviours are addressed, policies are trusted, staff feel empowered and supported to uphold standards, and both staff and leadership are held accountable. Improving communication and transparency between leadership and staff, To clarify and communicate governance roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority, Strengthening risk management systems to provide the board with visibility of culture, behaviour and child safety risks Developing a standalone anti-racism and discrimination response protocol to identify, respond to, record, escalate and track incidents of racism and racial, cultural and religious discrimination, and more staff training on the issues. 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