Greater Shepparton College students targeted in vile TikTok hate pages

A new bullying scandal has hit Shepparton’s “super school” as mental health fears grow for students, weeks after a girl took her life.

A series of social media bullying pages targeting Greater Shepparton College students has emerged, with frustrated parents calling for the trouble-plagued school to take immediate action.

It comes after the recent tragic suicide last month of Sienna Ratila, 13, who attended the school, with her family saying the school’s hostile environment and lack of care from staff “definitely” caused the deterioration of the teen’s mental health.

Last year, a special ­investigation revealed a string of issues at the college, including violent schoolyard brawls, teachers “working in fear” and the school being forced into lockdown after a student was seen waving an imitation firearm.

More than 2000 students from four merged government schools were crammed into the one mega site in Shepparton this year.

The Herald Sun has uncovered more than 10 vile hate pages on TikTok, which brazenly targets students at the school.

The bullying pages, created by multiple Greater Shepparton College students, encourages students to play a “guess who” game by guessing the identity of the victims by listing the person’s nationality and other images of their characteristics.

Sienna Ratila, 13, took her own life last month.

The teenager was a student at Greater Shepparton College.

In one shocking image, a young teen’s face is shown with the caption “hated by many”, while other images show students being body shamed and racially vilified.
The Herald Sun has also found many “fight club” social media pages, where students are shown brawling and encouraging each other to film the violent fights.

The school has engaged with Victoria Police on cyber safety and violence education programs for all Year 7 and 8 students.

The state government opened a mental health drop in centre in Shepparton following a rise in the number of reported mental health issues in the Goulburn Valley in recent months.

But many students at the school also told the Herald Sun there needed to be more mental health support for the school community.

One student, 16, said he was “concerned” about several of his friends’ mental health.

“My friends have called me late at night crying saying they don’t want to go to school. I’ve also had to rush over to their houses at times to help them,” he said.

“The bullying pages and fighting at the school isn’t helping, I think we do need more mental health support because I am really concerned about our wellbeing.”

Loved ones shed tears for Sienna Ratila after the teen took her own life. Picture: Jason Edwards

Family and friends at a memorial for Sienna Ratila. Picture: Jason Edwards

Sienna Ratila’s stepmum Roxanne was unaware of the hate pages, but said the school was plagued by ongoing bullying and fights.

“They would just tell her (Sienna) not to come to school,” she said.

Roxanne said she also witnessed security guards stationed outside the school over the past year following a spate of fights that broke out at the campus between culturally diverse students.

She said unrest among the large cohort and the school’s handling of Sienna’s mental health prompted her to send her younger daughter to a different school.

“Now they’ve just thrown them in all together and so it hasn’t gone great so far.”

Roxanne remembered her stepdaughter as a “really energetic girl” who loved the outdoors, but had her ups and downs.

“She loved being with her friends. She cared about everyone,” she said.

“When she wasn’t depressed, she was full of energy.”

Sienna’s aunt Katie Mulcahy branded the ‘super school’ as a “joke” because bullying and violent fights were rife among its more than 2000 students.

“There’s constantly videos of kids fighting each other,” Ms Mulcahy said.

“That school doesn’t help a lot of kids. It was a joke. It shouldn’t be like that.”

Greater Shepparton College parent Mark Bentley says students are batting mental health issues brought on by school violence and bullying. Picture: Jason Edwards

While executive principal Barbara O’Brien said the school year had started off smoothly for most students, who were supported by 20 wellbeing support staff including psychologists, social workers and multicultural aides, Mark Bentley, whose son Rylie in Year 9 attends the school, said the mental health among students was worsening.

“The students are confronted with violence every day, the fights haven’t stopped and the bullying continues too,” he said.

“The social media pages are just horrible, the school needs to act upon this now because students are really suffering with their mental health, bullying just makes it worse.”

“The community deserves to have a choice of schools, we can’t all be forced to attend one public school. The state government needs to hear our voices because they matter.”

Rylie told the Herald Sun he had experienced anxiety after also allegedly being threatened and verbally abused by a school official in February.

“My friend was drinking an Up and Go. Out of instinct, I just jumped on it, I scooted it back over him with my foot … (The school official) then came up to my face and said ‘you’re not going to f---ing get away with it this year, I’ve put up with enough of your s--- at Wanganui last year’,” he said.

Mr Bentley said he was left furious by the incident.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College declined to address the claims. Picture: David Caird

“Rylie did not even attend Wanganui last year, he went to Maguire. I’m angered by the school’s response as no action was taken,” he said.

“I even requested to obtain CCTV footage but the school refused to give me that, I will be making a report to police.”

Tammy, a parent of two former students, said she pulled her youngest out to be homeschooled after she received death threats.

“We had messages on social media telling her that they were going to kill her,” she said.

Tammy said her daughter had “about 15 girls chasing her through the school, intimidating her” while waiting to be picked up.

She said her daughter had been suicidal as a result, and insisted the superschool had “made it worse”.

Paediatric psychologist Amanda Abel said young people can’t remove themselves from social media.

“It’s constantly there, running in their background,” she said.

She said the Guess Who posts would lead to “hyper vigilance because you never know what’s coming next or who the subject of the next post is”.

“They will be wanting to see who’s next, which is very concerning.”

The Department of Education refused to address the Herald Sun’s repeated requests for comment addressing the violence and bullying the school’s students posted on social media.