Education Minister Blair Boyer says school size a factor in Golden Grove violence

The Education Minister has made stunning admissions over why he thinks violence has become so bad at Golden Grove High School, and how he thinks they can stop it.

A “perfect storm” of Covid compromised schooling and the enormous size of the expanded Golden Grove High School is partly to blame for sickening violence at the school, the Education Minister says.

Minster Blair Boyer has stopped short of saying it was an error to expand the school to include Year 7s, a move made at the start of this year, but conceded concerns were being raised across the education community about “really large school sites”.

Speaking to ABC Radio, Mr Boyer said teachers, members of the Education Department and parents had queried whether school size was contributing to overt violence in the schoolyard.

Mr Boyer said the government had gone as far as to consider how large they would build schools into the future.

“There is a number of people who share that concern (of school sizes) and I think there’s an appetite that in the future we look at possibly building new secondary school sites in the public system which may not be as large as the ones we’ve built in the recent past,” he told ABC Radio.

South Australia's Education Minister Blair Boyer. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

A series of violent and distressing fight videos have come out from Golden Grove High school.

“The stock that we would build, I guess, would be of a smaller size.

“It’s not so simple to do that to pre-existing schools like Golden Grove High School, I accept that and I’m not suggesting that’s some kind of silver bullet for existing schools where we have an issue with violent behaviour.”

The move to include Year 7s as part of the high school came as part of a statewide shift at the end of 2021.

It was championed by the former Liberal state government at the 2018 election, and implemented by the department, with then Education Minister John Gardner describing it as something that would be “hugely beneficial for students”.

The move was at the time opposed by Labor and the primary school principals’ association.

Several parents told The Advertiser violence at Golden Grove has escalated in 2022, chiefly blaming it on the fact the school cohort had grown in 2022.

Two mothers, who both chose to remain anonymous to protect their children’s identities, said the school had been unable to control the out-of-hand violence, claiming fights took place every day.

Education Department chief executive Professor Martin Westwell told The Advertiser said an extra 287 students had been enrolled at the start of 2022 as compared to the previous year.

He said, despite the escalation of violence, and Mr Boyer‘s comments, there were “no plans to alter the transition of Year 7s to high school”.

Mr Boyer also blamed the ongoing impacts of Covid impacted years of schooling.

Students Fighting at Golden Grove High School. Picture: Supplied

Students Fighting at Golden Grove High School. Picture: Supplied

He said students having spent time out of the classroom and the chance they may not have had their regular teacher led to a convergence of factors resulting in higher levels of violence.

“I think all these things have probably added up to a bit of a perfect storm,” he said.

Golden Grove High School was embroiled in a shocking and distressing fight scandal on Thursday as videos of violent assaults at the school were made public.

Premier Peter Malinauskas later announced the government would be sending in an experienced ex-principal to assist with controlling the school after a series of controversies had plagued it throughout 2022.

He also said security guards would be deployed to try and counteract the violence.