Former Ocean View College principal Peter McLaren to help turn around Golden Grove High
The man drafted by the Education Department to help turn around under-siege Golden Grove High School has been named.
North & North East
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An experienced high school principal and leadership advisor can be revealed as the man drafted to help turn around troubled Golden Grove High School.
Former Ocean View College principal Peter McLaren will take up his role from Monday.
The school has been engulfed in controversy over shocking videos of multiple serious fights and brawls between students, the worst being the bashing of a boy in a toilet as other students watched.
The announcement of Mr McLaren comes a week after Premier Peter Malinauskas said an experienced leader would be brought in to support principal Peter Kuss and “provide independent advice to the (Education) Department on further action required”.
Mr Mclaren led Ocean View from 2011 to 2016 and has since worked as a principal and leadership advisor for the department.
The department said in a statement Mr McLaren had most recently been at Renmark High helping to “set leadership direction and drive school improvement”.
“Peter has an extensive track record in working with the community to effect sustainable improvement and has a strong commitment to equity and quality educational outcomes for all,” the department said.
It comes as the department revealed several students captured in videos shot on the Golden Grove campus and made public last week were suspended because they failed to intervene to stop fights.
In a statement, chief executive Professor Martin Westwell said “strong action” had been taken over their “bystander behaviour”.
“(But) we know that these are isolated incidents and the majority of students are focused on their learning at this school,” he said.
A parent, who did not want to be named, said they had been made aware several students were suspended for their involvement in the harrowing, filmed incident in which a boy was cornered in a toilet cubicle before being met with a barrage of punches from another boy.
The attacker and victim were understood to be in Year 7, with the others that watched on from higher year levels.
As a result of the violent incidents, security guards will patrol the school in Term 4.
A behaviour specialist and parent liaison have also been brought in.
The details of a routine departmental review of the school, dated March 2021, can also be revealed.
The report, while broadly positive, noted a “considerable variation” in teacher and leadership responses to supporting the school’s improvement plan.
It found “greater alignment between leaders’ roles and responsibilities, the school’s improvement plan and performance development” was needed.
The school was set to again be reviewed in 2024.
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