Every South East Queensland state high school’s behaviour report card revealed

Almost 1000 students were kicked out of South East Qld high schools last year, with fighting, drugs and weapons among the most alarming reasons. SEARCH THE FULL LIST

From schoolyard brawls, vaping or bringing weapons to class, South East Queensland’s worst behaved public high schools can be revealed.

A Courier-Mail analysis of hundreds of annual reports for schools across Brisbane, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and the Gold and Sunshine coasts has revealed the students who missed the most days through disciplines.

There are four categories of school disciplinary absences (SDAs) including: short suspensions, long suspensions, exclusions and cancellations.

Ipswich State High School handed out 853 short suspensions last year which was the most in South East Queensland, followed by Marsden State High School with 806 and Redbank Plains State High School with 707.

Overall, Ipswich State High School’s total SDAs of 912 dropped significantly compared to its 2021 overall numbers of 1206.

A total of 806 short suspensions were handed out at Marsden State High School last year. Picture: Richard Walker

About 80 students from neighbouring Ipswich schools in Bremer State High School and Bundamba State College had their enrolments excluded.

More than 856 students aged 16 and older had their enrolments cancelled, including 16 at Mabel Park State High School at Slacks Creek which had the most out of the SEQ schools.

In stark contrast, two of Queensland’s largest public high schools in Brisbane State High School and Indooroopilly State High School, each with more than 2500 pupils, had fewer than 160 SDAs.

Queensland Secondary Principals Association president Mark Breckenridge said disciplinary actions were a “last resort” for any school principal.

Mr Breckenridge said it was the minority of students who received the bulk of the SDAs and many students would not receive an SDA in their education lifespan.

“Absolutely they’re a last resort,” Mr Breckenridge said.

“Other options can be as simple as a conversation with parents, in-school detentions or work with guidance counsellors.”

Queensland secondary students made up about two thirds of the total 78,026 state school disciplinary absences enforced in 2022 with Years 7-9 the worst offenders.

There were nearly 8000 absences for drug-related incidents, largely due to vaping, while hundreds of students were disciplined for bringing weapons to school.

Overall SDA numbers dropped by about 5000 compared to 2021 data, following a push from the Department of Education to address the high rates.