Warilla High School principal’s plea to stop schoolyard brawls

A NSW school principal has threatened to cut breaks to minimise the risk of students brawling in the playground - and their peers “chasing fights” to record and share on social media.

A NSW school principal has threatened to cut short breaks to minimise the risk of students brawling in the playground - and their peers “chasing fights” to record and share on social media.

In a letter to parents, Warilla High School principal Michelle Brook says some parents are encouraging the fights which occur on school grounds, and at a nearby marina, giving kids permission to “fight on”.

In her letter Ms Brook said she’d heard from students about fights which were spilling into the schoolyard from incidents occurring outside of school, and fuelled by social media.

“Both are areas where students are having ‘issues’ and as a result are bringing this into the school where they feel the need to settle various scores (fight),” she told parents and caregivers.

“I am asking you to help us to try and stop this very anti-social behaviour.

“ … We are quick to stop fights when they occur, but it would be better to know there is an issue before it erupts in violence.”

Warilla High School in the Illawarra. Picture: Google Maps

Ms Brook asked parents to monitor their children’s social media, as they too could be proactive in “taking their school back from this violent streak”.

“Please speak to them about not ‘chasing’ the fights to get video footage, as this is both dangerous and against the telecommunications law, for which they can be suspended,” she stated.

The letter sent from the principal of Warilla High School.

Ms Brook said what the school was experiencing was a “reflection of society”, which some may find acceptable, but most would reject.

“It is a worry when we interview some students involved in a ‘fight’ and they’re saying their caregivers gave them permission to ‘fight on’,” she wrote.

The police had been involved in the school’s response to the issues, Ms Brook said as she warned of consequences should they continue.

“Our main concern is to maintain student safety. If this means calling for ‘breaks’ to be minimised due to student disrest we will do so until we have a large number of students not ‘chasing’ and ‘filming’ issues,” she concluded.

It comes as a veteran high school teacher was charged after he was filmed in a scuffle with a student.

Michael John Kable, 62, was working at Maitland Grossmann High on Tuesday in a relief capacity to fill staffing shortages, when he became caught up in a classroom scuffle and allegedly punched a male teen.

Teacher Michael Kable was charged after a scuffle in a classroom earlier this week.

Police charged Kable on Tuesday with common assault after multiple students pulled out their phones and filmed him allegedly reefing a student over a desk and punching him.

Parents have also raised concerns about violence and other issues at a northern NSW school after students allegedly attacked each other, sparking a lockdown last week.

The incident comes amid reports of fight club-style youth brawls occurring across the north of the state – often being filmed on smartphones and shared on social media.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said schools were “overwhelmingly safe places” for children and young people.

“Data from 2022 from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research records that sadly people under 18 years of age are more than five times more likely to be assaulted away from school grounds than on a school site,” he said. “Even one incident is too many and we have measures and supports in place to respond.”

The spokesman said students engaging in violence, bullying and cyberbullying, and psychological abuse may receive a formal caution or suspension from school.

He said schools had local measures in place to deal with the inappropriate use of mobile phones, while parents were encouraged to monitor their child’s mobile phone use and contact their school if they had any concerns.

The principal’s letter aimed to ensure parents and carers were aware of the issue at the school, and encourage them to support it in preventing incidents.

Earlier this month NSW Labor announced it was considering a plan to roll out mobile phone jammers in schools to stop students miss using smartphones during school hours.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has maintained that a total ban on mobile phones in public school classrooms was impractical, and that she trusted principals and their communities to use their own discretion.

“We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to mobile phones in high schools is not practical,” she said.