Principal of troubled Nuriootpa High School in the Barossa Valley will leave the role amid bullying claims

The leader of the state’s largest regional school is leaving after a series of alarming incidents involving staff and students.

The principal of an embattled Barossa Valley high school has taken extended leave and will not return to the school following a series of incidents that led to former teachers, parents and students expressing fears of an unsafe environment.

Nuriootpa High School principal Gerri Walker announced in an email to its community on Tuesday that she would take extended leave “for my health and that of my family”.

“I leave the school as a proud leader,” Ms Walker wrote.

She thanked parents and carers “for the partnership we have had that allowed your child/ren to flourish”.

Ms Walker addressed her students in the email and said she was grateful for their “contributions to Nuriootpa High School”.

“Thanks for choosing me as a staff member that you trusted and wanted to celebrate with,” she wrote.

Ms Walker wrote to her staff that they “have been on a journey together and had much success”.

“In closing, I wish the Nuriootpa High School community every success,” she wrote.

Another email, sent by the school’s education director Tanya Oshinsky, thanked Ms Walker for “her commitment and dedication in her role as principal at Nuriootpa High School”.

“Gerri has a genuine passion for the teaching and learning outcomes of the young people in her care,” Ms Oshinsky wrote.

She detailed that Ms Walker held “a wide variety of leadership positions over 45 years as an educator and is held in high esteem by her colleagues”.

Nuriootpa High School principal Gerri Walker with former minister Stephan Knoll. Picture: Facebook

“Working with the school over the last 21 months, I have seen first-hand how proactive she is in the daily education of students.

“I sincerely wish her well for the future,” Ms Oshinsky wrote.

Ms Walker was appointed as principal of the school in 2018 and was reappointed to the role last year.

From Monday, June 24, Roy Page will be acting principal “while the recruitment process for a new principal takes place”.

Mr Page was most recently director of the Review, Improvement and Accountability Directorate.

Before that, he was principal of Heathfield High School.

“I hope you will join me in welcoming Roy to the school,” Ms Oshinsky wrote.

Education Department chief executive Professor Martin Westwell said the decision by Ms Walker was “personal” and takes effect “immediately”.

“I would like to sincerely thank Ms Walker for her commitment and dedication in her role as principal at Nuriootpa High School,” Prof Westwell said.

An independent review of the school and student behaviour, announced earlier this month, “is continuing” he said.

“We will continue to work closely with the school and its governing council to ensure a positive learning environment and thank the parent community for its ongoing support,” Prof Westwell said.

It comes after a teacher who was at Nuriootpa High School for almost a decade until 2021, told The Advertiser he felt he needed to quit after he was harassed by students and called a pedophile.

Nuriootpa High School. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“It’s completely outrageous and untrue,” he said.

In a separate incident, a teacher of more than a decade at the school, but now works elsewhere said there had been multiple members of staff who expressed suicidal ideation due to their working conditions.

And a 13-year-old boy at a Nuriootpa High School is still experiencing memory loss weeks after his head was allegedly stomped on by another student.

In a video seen by The Advertiser, believed to have been filmed on April 9, Year 8 student Hendrix Mortimer is depicted being grabbed and shoved to the ground, before his head is stomped on.