Video footage captures violent fights at Endeavour Hills school
Six videos were posted to social media capturing separate violent brawls among students at an Endeavour Hills school amid claims of a bullying culture.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Video footage has emerged of students violently fighting at an Endeavour Hills school after a parent and a former teacher claimed bullying was rife.
Six videos were posted to a private Instagram account over the past week, showing students attacking each other at Gleneagles Secondary College.
One video shows two females hitting and kicking one another with a male student breaking up the fight.
The other video shows two males punching one another as one teen falls to the ground.
In both videos, other students are seen watching and encouraging the violent behaviour.
It is unknown when the fights occurred.
A Department of Education spokesman said any form of violence or bullying is completely unacceptable, and the health, safety and wellbeing of students is always a top priority.
“Gleneagles Secondary College takes strong action, including disciplinary action where appropriate, in response to any incidents of fighting or bullying,” he said.
“Social media platforms have an important role to play and should stop enabling the publication of content that risks the promotion of violence among young people.
“The department continues to raise this issue with a range of social media providers.”
This comes after a former maths teacher spoke out about the bullying culture at the public school, claiming lunchtime was shortened due to schoolyard violence.
The woman, who asked not to be named, told Leader that teachers and vulnerable students were targeted by bullies.
The woman, who taught at the school from 2013 to 2021, said she noticed a shift in the culture in her last few years working there.
“When I was initially there, it was a harmonious school,” she said.
“I didn’t witness or hear about significant conflicts between student groups or teachers.
“But in the last few years, things changed and I started hearing more complaints.”
The woman, who resigned due to exhaustion, said some of the worst incidents involved teachers.
“Teachers were hurt in the crossfire of violence or violent play, or while they were trying to address poor behaviour,” she said.
“They were verbally abused, physically injured and had their property damaged or vandalised.”
The woman said fights broke out between different groups in the schoolyard and homophobia was a common issue, with some students intentionally excluded and ridiculed.
The former teacher said lunch and recess was shortened at the start of 2021 due to violent behaviour.
“Teachers tried to intervene when fights happened at lunch time, but it was sometimes left to male teachers as some women were too scared to police behaviour, including me,” she said.
But Leader was told the school introduced a shortened recess and lunch break to support an increased emphasis on student engagement and learning.
A former parent of the school pulled his daughter out of Year 10 at the end of last year due to ongoing bullying.
Glenn Hopkins told Leader his 16-year-old daughter was afraid to go to school after she was chased with a knife by a fellow student last year.
“It hurts me knowing my kid went through this and I felt useless because I couldn’t help her,” he said.
“It destroyed me as a parent.”
Mr Hopkins said his daughter has been targeted by bullies since she started Year 7 with students calling her derogatory names and questioning her sexuality.
“She suffered bad anxiety and depression and would spontaneously break down in tears for no reason,” he said.
The Department of Education spokesman said there were no records to support allegations of teachers being injured or students bringing weapons to Gleneagles Secondary College over the past few years.
The department said the school had robust anti-bullying policies in place to respond to any incidents and support any students who may need it.
The school was contacted for comment.
