Unley High School sends letter to parents on safe discussions around misogynistic content provided by Andrew Tate

Unley High School has sent a letter to parents after conversations among students about a misogynistic social media user blocked for his views on women.

An Adelaide high school has sent guidelines to parents and teachers to help handle students exposed to social media content from “grossly misogynistic” users like Andrew Tate.

The letter from Unley High School was sent to parents on Friday to encourage conversations with children who were discussing Tate, an American kickboxer.

Tate's Instagram, TikTok and YouTube accounts were last week removed from online platforms over concerns he made misogynistic comments about women.

The 35-year-old claims to know the “secrets of wealth”, and said female rape victims are partially responsible for the attacks.

In the letter, Unley High School’s principal Greg Rolton said Tate’s online ban has only lifted his cult status among students in Australia and overseas.

Students at Unley High School. Picture: AAP/Brenton Edwards

It provided a guide on how to deal with students talking about Tate and referred to his misogynistic content.

Mr Rolton said a student complained to the school’s wellbeing team about hurtful comments being made in the schoolyard, and investigations led staff to link the behaviour to Tate’s content.

He said some of the younger students are not as aware of the suffering women have faced in history and it provided a chance for education.

“That’s the way social media works for young people, they see something and they share it around, even when it’s as bad as this, they don’t understand the gravity until you have a conversation,” Mr Rolton told The Advertiser.

“Instead of wanting it to just be a conversation between teachers and students I wanted it to be a conversation at home as well.”

“This is an example of why we do provide latitude and local autonomy for sites to be able to send these communications themselves,” Education Minister Blair Boyer said on ABC Radio Adelaide on Tuesday.

“If they see an issue around TikTok or something, or kids maybe mimicking or exhibiting behaviour that they see from people like Andrew Tate on social media platforms … they can address it by sending out a communication like this,” he said.

“Often we don’t know what our kids are accessing so part of it is informing kids about how to be safe on the web, and part of it is also informing parents about some of the trends that are on these platforms so they can have a conversation.”