Worst incidents to hit Victorian schools in 2021

From brawls and bullying to racism and sexism, some Victorian students have been up to no good. Here’s the worst incidents that happened in schools last year.

There’s no denying that the past two years have been tough on students with constant lockdowns and homeschooling across Victoria.

While some students knuckled down to complete their studies others have behaved badly on social media or in the school grounds.

Leader takes a look back on the worst school incidents of 2021.

The Knox School

Year 9 student Cherise Ncube says she has experienced ongoing racism by a group of boys at a prestigious school. Picture: Mark Stewart

A Year 9 student accused elite private school The Knox School in Wantirna South of shocking racism and cyber-bullying.

Cherise Ncube, 15, said she was “distraught” and “humiliated” after another student shouted the N-word several times in a science class in February despite being told to stop.

“He was singing a song and said the N-word. I told him not to say it and he said it repeatedly despite the fact I was telling him not to say it,” Cherise said.

“When I reported it to the head of middle school, she spoke to him but he still didn’t think he had done anything wrong and that’s when he and other students began to target me. As soon as I would walk into a room they would say the ‘N-word’, ‘faggot’, ‘retard’, and ‘tranny’ around me — it was awful and they would call me a snitch, which led to me being isolated.”

Cherise, who migrated to Melbourne from South Africa, alleges she then became the target of a vile Snapchat group called “Boys 2.0”, where she was targeted by her classmates.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College

Video footage showed parents fighting outside a Greater Shepparton Secondary College campus less than 24 hours after their children were caught brawling.

Two men were seen wrestling outside the school’s McGuire campus in the state’s north east in August.

It’s believed the fight was in response to their children fighting a day earlier.

One witness, who did not want to be named, described the incident as “absolutely disgusting”.

Another parent said they felt incidents at the school “were beginning to get out of hand” and they “continued to worry about their own child’s safety”.

In another shocking video, a Year 7 student was told to “kill yourself” by peers on social media.

Parents said students were being relentlessly bullied and there was no escape.

Most are trolled in closed Snapchat groups where students post vile rumours.

One parent said her son had an intimate photo shared to Snapchat for hours before it was removed.

The mum of the teen was told to take her own life and said her daughter had been punched nine times, kneed in the head and feared going to school.

Lyndhurst Secondary College

Parents of students at Lyndhurst Secondary College said they were left “shocked” after a brawl broke out and forced the school into lockdown.

Several parents said dozens of students were seen trading blows during the altercation in March.

“My children were placed into lockdown in their classrooms, they saw students from another school come onto the school grounds and fight with Lyndhurst students,” the parent said.

“My son said he saw someone being knocked and punched to ground, it’s really horrible.

“It was upsetting to pick up my children at school and to see at least 10 police cars and four ambulances, you really think the worst.”

The school’s principal, Konnie Prades, emailed parents about the incident.

“I’m writing to let you know there was an incident at the school today that prompted us to enact our student safety procedures,” Ms Prades said.

An education department spokesman said no weapons of any kind were involved in the incident.

“Students remained inside for about an hour while police attended the school. Once police deemed the school to be safe, the school resumed its normal daily routine,” the spokesman said.

Wesley Secondary College

Wesley female students have said they were “slut shamed” and groped by male students. Picture: Supplied

Leaked footage of male students making highly offensive remarks about women and joking on a bus that people “should’ve bombed the women’s march” sparked an uprising among female students at elite Wesley College.

The girls urged their peers to “name and shame” their attacks via an online form.

The college received more than a dozen instances of alleged sexual assault, harassment and disrespect of girls by male peers.

Students said they were “slut shamed”, groped by male students, physically abused and had compromising photos of them circulated on social media.

The school called in counsellors, trauma specialists and respectful relationships educators to overhaul its student culture.

Wonthaggi Secondary College

A Wonthaggi Secondary College student was “publicly humiliated” by vicious bullies who racially attacked her in videos they shared on social media in July.

One video, sent directly to Year 9 student Kara Nasilasila by a fellow student, shows a teenage boy calling her the N-word, ‘gorilla’ and referring to her as a “burnt sausage”.

Another video uploaded to TikTok shows a teenage girl dancing with the caption “gorilla”.

The 14-year-old Fijian girl said she had been bullied for three years but the attacks escalated online.

Kara said she knew the teen girl but shockingly she had never met the boy.

“I’ve grown up with it my whole life,” Kara said.

“But this (the video referring to her as a sausage) was the tip of the iceberg for me.”

A few weeks later, another Year 9 student was harassed at the school over his gender identity.

A group of teens tormented Alex Slorach at the school’s junior campus in August.

Alex said he was holding three pride flags when the boys, believed to be in Year 8, attacked him and his friends.

He was asked “are you a boy or a girl?”, “what’s in your pants?” and “if you have a d*** then show us”.

Mr Slorach said one of the boys tried to rip the flags from him to burn them.

“While asking these questions one of the boys started to mimic sexual movements,” he said.

“The group just kept getting bigger and bigger as time went on, even some people that I call friends were standing by close to the group watching as it got worse.”

Alex said the teens ran off when a teacher approached.

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