Class warfare: Students armed with weapons as South Australian school violence escalates

VIOLENT school students are arming themselves with guns, knives, machetes, swords and glass bottles, as violence on campuses escalates.

Police were called to 509 violent incidents at SA schools last financial year. Picture: Thinkstock

VIOLENT school students are arming themselves with guns, knives, machetes, swords and glass bottles, as violence on campuses escalates.

Police were called to 509 violent incidents at SA schools last financial year, including 182 “serious assaults”.

The details of the violent attacks also reveal incidents of aggravated sexual assault in government and private schools have more than doubled from 18 in 2010-11 to 40 in 2014-15.

Family First MP Robert Brokenshire.

Police do not disclose the extent of violence in schools in regular crime statistics reporting but Family First MP Robert Brokenshire forced the release of reports going back to 2010-11 through Freedom of Information laws.

“The latest FOI figures raise real concerns regarding assaults in our schools and sadly is a reflection of what we are seeing in general society,” he said.

“Of particular concern is the number of schools where an assault occurred with a weapon.”

According to the figures, dozens of students armed themselves with guns, swords, axes, crow bars, hammers, chemicals, knives, bricks, bottles, clubs, batons, glass, rocks, screwdrivers, scissors, keys, iron bars, and sticks when launching their attacks.

In the past five years, there have been 327 such incidents. The weapons of choice were “knife/machete/sword/scissors”, which were used 18 times in 2014-15.

Of the 2412 assaults dealt with by police over the past five years, 248 were at private schools, which have about one-third of the total South Australian student population.

Australian Education Union vice president Jan Murphy said principals were battling serious and complicated dangers.

“The figures show that some site leaders are dealing with very complex issues, including violent incidents involving non-students on school grounds,’’ Ms Murphy said.

“Anybody in a school who is subjected to violence, or threats of violence, must be provided with the full support of (the Education Department).

“Any increase in violence in schools is a concern, however the vast majority of public schools don’t experience this type of high-level violence.’’

SA Independent Schools Association chief executive Carolyn Grantskalns said the figures for private schools would include all private schools, including all denominations and non-denominational schools.

“Incidents of violence in our schools are very rare, they are treated very seriously and schools would seek the assistance of police as they needed to,’’ she said

An Education Department spokesman said the figures included attacks outside of school hours on the school grounds, but could not say how many there had been.

“Overwhelmingly, public schools are safe environments but any incident of this kind is of concern and is treated with the utmost seriousness,’’ the spokesman said.

“All criminal activity is reported to the police and victims are provided support and counselling.

“While the legal process takes precedence, students involved in criminal acts also face additional disciplinary action from the school. All school staff undertake full training every three years on how to identify and respond to sexual abuse.

“In addition, through the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum, all students receive age-appropriate lessons on respectful relationships and how to identify and report inappropriate activities.”

Mr Brokenshire said teaching staff “should be there to enjoy the development of young people and young people should be able to enjoy their education rather than having to worry about safety on the school campus”.

“The State Government has a duty of care for the safety of the teachers and students and these figures should send an urgent message that more needs to be done to curb school violence and violence in the general community.

“If violence at schools is not curbed, then unfortunately, as these people grow into adulthood there is a higher risk that we will see an increase of assaults in the community.

“Parents and Government have a responsibility to ensure children are not involved in assaults.”