SA Education Minister orders all schools to review bullying policies after girl’s shocking bashing
A vicious alleged attack on a schoolgirl that left her needing dental surgery has sparked a heated reaction across Adelaide - including from SA’s education minister.
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Education Minister John Gardner has ordered all South Australian public schools to review their anti-bullying policy after a vicious assault of a 13-year-old student.
Mr Gardner said it was timely that 500 public schools were audited to ensure they delivered policies in the correct manner, after the victim was punched, kicked and had her teeth knocked out allegedly by two students, 14 and 15, outside the Gilles Plains Shopping Centre on Tuesday.
“It’s one thing to have those policies in place but it’s now very timely that we audit to ensure they are delivering those policies in the way that they’re meant to be applied,” Mr Gardner said.
“(On Thursday), we had an external reviewer at Avenues College to work with the schools leadership and, indeed, their anti-bullying policy is one of the key elements to the review that’s taking place.”
Mr Gardner said he was concerned with allegations about how Avenues College had handled previous claims of bullying made by the victim’s parents. “Our responsibility … is to ensure no child is placed in that situation,” he said.
It was yesterday confirmed that the alleged offenders would be expelled from the school. The 14-year-old accused of assaulting the schoolgirl over social media by allegedly threatening to “cave in” her victim’s replacement dental work, was yesterday refused bail. The Youth Court remanded the teen in custody, saying her alleged behaviour was far too concerning for even the most stringent forms of supervised release.
Magistrate David White said the girl’s renewed aggression on Instagram was considered, by prosecutors, to be a second assault. “Here, we have allegations of a serious assault and then a further allegation of a further assault against the same victim,” he said.
“That threat can fairly be said to be meant to have intimidated the victim or witnesses.
“She had already been given police bail which was fashioned to provide some sense of protection to the victim – that protection is this court's primary consideration.”
The 14-year-old and her co-accused, 15, have yet to plead to charges including multiple, aggravated counts of assault and breaching bail. Prosecutors said the 14-year-old and 15-year-old were among eight teenagers who approached the girl, and could be “clearly” seen punching and kicking her.
The 14-year-old will face court again in three weeks, while the 15-year-old will seek release on bail on Tuesday.