Schools right across Victoria made headlines in 2022 for everything from bullying investigations to suspensions over hairstyles
We have taken a look back at the most shocking school incidents from last year as students settle into the 2023 school year. See what made the list.
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As students have returned to campuses across Victoria for a new school year in recent weeks, we’ve taken a look back at the biggest headlines concerning Victorian schools last year.
From allegations of bullying and toxic cultures to school fights and bathroom bans, many schools made unwanted headlines in 2022.
Contacted about how the Department of Education was ensuring all state schools were safe and inclusive environments this year and in years to come, a spokesman said “staff and student wellbeing is our top priority at all Victorian schools”.
“Any form of bullying or violence is unacceptable,” they added.
“Incidents of violence are never acceptable — and are immediately referred to the police when required”.
Independent Schools Victoria did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Clarendon College bullying allegations
An elite private school in Ballarat made headlines this year after a whistleblower letter set out a series of allegations against veteran principal David Shepherd.
The letter claimed the longstanding principal and other senior staff were responsible for creating a culture of “genuine misery” with endemic racism, sexism and misogyny.
The series of explosive claims from around 20 staff described an alleged bullying culture that had “an enduring and sometimes devastating” impact, with some teachers reduced to tears in front of students.
It sparked three separate probes – one by WorkSafe, one by the Independent Education Union and the other commissioned by the school.
Mr Shepherd and the school have vehemently denied the allegations.
In December the school announced Mr Shepherd had been “exonerated” by the independent investigation it commissioned.
He wrote a letter to parents saying he was “pleased” at the result.
The IEU investigation and WorkSafe inquiries are continuing.
Students accused of shoplifting on international trip
Five Bacchus Marsh Grammar students were arrested and questioned by Singaporean police during an overseas school trip in November.
The students were part of a group of 18 who had travelled to the country for a netball tournament.
But the trip turned sour when the five girls were arrested and questioned by police over several days, accused of stealing lingerie and shoes.
The girls were eventually able to leave the country when police told them they would not be pursuing the matter further.
Students suspended over hairstyles
A pair of sisters were locked out of their Maryborough classrooms when their principal took a firm stance about their hairstyles.
Avoca residents Amayah, 17, and Safhira, 16, who are of African descent, were suspended from their independent Maryborough school, Highview College, after a dispute around their principal asking them to tie back their African braids.
Their mother Rebecca Rowe said her daughters had braided their naturally thick hair in the “protective style” in the past and it had never been a problem.
“It’s all contained in individual box braids which they pull back from their face and tie at the back to create a half up, half down hairstyle,” she said, adding wearing the style cut about 30 minutes from their morning routine.”
Principal Melinda Scash told the Herald Sun the suspension was a result of a “parent-supported declaration of defiance” that was “aggressively and repeatedly asserted” and so the girls were directed not to attend their classes and to go home and reconsider their choices.
“It is not our desire, nor our intention, to exacerbate their discomfort. Amayah and Safhira have always previously complied by wearing their hair up (when not braided),” Ms Scash said.
“However, tying long hair back remains a Highview College uniform requirement. In response to the report of pain currently being experienced by the girls since having braided hair extensions, we have been accommodating.
“We have requested that they comply with expectations by implementing a loose, low ‘grouping of their braids’ at the nape of their neck.”
The girls now attend a different school.
Staff to student ratios to be overhauled after student death
A teen on the overseas school trip of a lifetime died after overstretched staff and a hospital wrongly thought his illness was homesickness.
The death of Blackburn High School student Timothy Fehring, 15, forced the state government to overhaul school staffing requirements for international tours.
His shattered parents detailed their heartbreak at losing their loving, energetic and bubbly son, who died just a week after he jetted off on the European tour, full of hope and excitement.
“He was very, very sick, but he wanted to soldier on,” his mother Barbara Fehring said.
“He didn’t want to let anyone down, so he was trying to please everyone. He was trying hard not to disrupt the trip for the other students.”
Coroner Simon McGregor last year found school staff made the “wrong judgment call” in handling his illness, urging him to continue taking part in walking and cycling tours, despite his lethargy, weight loss and repeated vomiting in street bins.
In an email sent to the school community in July 2022, Blackburn High School principal Joanna Alexander said the staffing levels on the trip were in line with the Department’s requirements in 2019, though the minimum staffing requirements had since been increased.
Girls hospitalised after boozy incident
Two Wesley College students were found drinking on campus in December.
Emergency services were called to the school amid reports the girls were “behaving erratically”.
Sources told the Herald Sun that the girls had been drinking alcohol from their drink bottles.
They were taken to hospital as a precaution.
Toxic culture exposed at girls’ school
An investigation was launched after claims emerged about a “toxic workplace” and “touchy feely teacher” at a top Melbourne school.
The Independent Education Union launched an investigation into the allegations about Fintona Girls’ School in October.
The allegations centred around the management styles of the principal and deputy principal, with another sore point being that students had taken their concerns about a female staff member alleged to have stroked their necks and rubbed their backs to the principal but she did not act.
Other complaints included toilet access and staff being publicly shamed in meetings.
Principal Rachael Falloon did not address the claims levelled against the school when asked by the Herald Sun, but said the school took all concerns raised by staff seriously.
“Fintona has established policies which outline how concerns and grievances can be raised by members of the school community, who these can be raised with, and how these will be dealt with,” she said.
“All concerns are treated seriously by the school, with action taken in accordance with the school’s policies and procedures.
“We remain committed to providing a respectful, safe and ultimately rewarding work environment for each and every member of staff.”
Hijab ripped off in school fight
Disturbing footage emerged of two girls fighting at a public school in Melbourne’s south east in March.
The footage showed two girls slapping and hitting one another as one student’s hijab is ripped from her head at Dandenong High School.
A crowd gathered around the girls, with some filming and encouraging the behaviour.
Girl’s hair chopped off during school fight
Two Ballarat school girls were filmed fighting and pulling each other’s hair while classmates egged them on in August.
The incident at Mount Rowan Secondary College, involving a 13-year-old and 15-year-old, ended with one girl’s hair being cut off with a pair of scissors.
Boys caught rating female staff’s genitalia
Junior school students at a private boys’ school were caught rating female staff and the sexual attractiveness of each other’s sisters in May.
The lists made by year seven and eight boys at St Kevin’s College came to the attention of teachers amid celebrations during the week of International Women’s Day.
It prompted a senior school teacher to tell the Herald Sun she and other female staff did not “feel safe walking across the schoolyard” as a result of the school’s continuing sexist and misogynist culture.
“There is a great deal of disrespect for female teachers. The list we confiscated had a name, attribution number and rank for ‘staff members’ pussies’” she said.
An internal cultural review found the school had a “sexist” and “misogynist” culture in July 2021.
Knives confiscated at Shepparton school
Greater Shepparton Secondary College made headlines numerous times in 2022 for everything from violent brawls to teachers working in fear.
In one incident teachers confiscated four knives, which the education department said a student brought to school for “display purposes”.
But a mother told the Herald Sun she was “fearful” of sending her two children to the school.
“My daughter has told me that at least four girls in her class carry knives,” she said.
“They are still filming the fights and uploading them to social media. As parents we are very concerned.”
Vaping crackdown at Melbourne school
Students were locked out of bathrooms at a school in Melbourne’s southeast due to vaping concerns.
Koo Wee Rup Secondary College parents were sent a letter by the school in October, stating toilets had been locked across the school and students needed to request a staff access card to use the toilet.
The Herald Sun reported the move came after complaints about vaping and other anti-social behaviour at recess and lunchtime.
But parents blasted the move as “outrageous”, with one saying it was “a high school and not a prison”.
Student’s fight to show queer film
A Lilydale student won support from a star as she fought her private Catholic school’s decision not to show her queer short film last year.
Year 12 media student Tayler Allwood was shattered when she was told her film, Loving Graham, would not be shown in its entirety at Mount Lilydale Mercy College’s upcoming visual arts exhibition as it “goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church”.
The film was about a teenage girl exploring the fears, joys, and dynamic journey of her identity and specifically coming to terms with her sexuality.
It finished with a kiss shared between the main character and her female love interest.
The student started a petition calling on her school to change their decision and screen the film.
The link was shared on English actor Kit Connor’s Instagram stories.
Females students stalked by male peers
Shocking claims emerged from Balwyn High School last year.
Female students claimed their male peers had stalked them across campus, inappropriately touched them and masturbated in front of them in class.
They also claimed the boys threatened rape “as a joke” and ranked students in years 9 and 10 from most to least attractive.
The girls alleged teachers told them to “stop making a scene” when calling out misogyny, racism and homophobia in class so took their claims of “sexual assault and misogyny” to principal Deborah Harman in March 2021, the Herald Sun revealed.
However, they said their concerns were still not acted on.
Female students punished for ‘distracting’ male teachers
Students at two state high schools – Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College and Balwyn High School – were told their short dresses were a distraction for male staff and made them feel uncomfortable.
The year 11 student at Balwyn High School said she was pulled out of class and given a detention over the length of her skirt.
“I was told the reasoning was because it’s ‘distracting to the male staff and students’. Then when mum had something to say about it, they told her, ‘I can assure you that was never said’.”
The student said winter skirt hems were being “flipped up by teachers to check if they’ve been altered or not” and jumpers were lifted to check skirts were not being rolled up.
“They don’t treat the boys like that,” she said.
Another student at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College was told by a relief teacher that her short skirt was distracting to the male teachers and made them uncomfortable.
“I told them they shouldn’t be looking but I still got detention,” the student said.
A spokesman for the Department of Education on behalf of Canterbury Girls’ and Balwyn High said school uniform policies for government schools are determined by school councils.
“They must be consistent with department policies and developed in consultation with school communities.”
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