Parents claim Clairvaux Catholic School failed to act on sinister threats to her daughter from another student

Frustrated parents claim a Belmont primary school failed to act when their child received sinister cyber threats from another student.

Clairvaux Catholic School and, inset, principal Brendan Flanagan.

The mother of a girl who was subjected to relentless bullying, including sinister cyber threats, alleges her child’s school has failed to act.

The mother, who did not wish to be named, says her 12-year-old daughter has been the victim of extreme bullying by another student at Clairvaux Catholic School – including physical violence and a TikTok message she perceived as a death threat.

In a now-deleted video posted to a public TikTok account in early October, the student expressed irritation at losing two demerit points from Clairvaux for “talking about the sl**”.

The video also showed a blurred image of a person holding a firearm in front of a school’s exterior, with the words “fake gun”.

The mother alleges the Belmont primary school and its principal Brendan Flanagan, as well as its governing body Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS), haven’t done enough to ensure the safety of children.

The TikTok showed a person with a firearm standing outside a school building with the words "fake gun".

The mother said she reported the incident to the school and Mr Flanagan, but it was largely “dismissed”.

In correspondence between Mr Flanagan and the parent, he said he was aware there was an “online incident, outside of school hours”.

The mother said on advice from police, her daughter stayed home from school until an intervention order could be served to the other student.

She said the alleged perpetrator was allowed to return to school the day after the video was reported – a decision she said was “scary”.

“In my mind, I don’t see how that’s acceptable,” the mother said.

“It’s almost unreal.

“It’s ludicrous.”

The mother said at a minimum, the school should have contacted all parents to inform them of the situation.

“A risk was posed and the school didn’t do anything,” she said.

“It needs to be addressed, you can’t just leave it.

“If anything happened to any student, I would feel responsible (if) I was silent.”

Clairvaux put together a safety plan for the two children, including information about management of potential triggers, acceleration/escalation behaviours, unsafe behaviours, de-escalation behaviours, and recovery.

However, the mother said the plan went through several iterations, and did not adequately protect her daughter.

She has called for Mr Flanagan to be removed from his position, and said he hadn’t fulfilled his duty as principal.

“All those kids at Clairvaux deserve to be safe, and under him as principal, I don’t believe they are,” she said.

A MACS spokesman said the safety and wellbeing of every student was its highest priority.

“Schools have clear policies and procedures in place to respond to all incidents of threats or bullying, online or otherwise,” he said.

“Where concerns or issues are raised, these are taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly, including reviewing existing policy and procedure.”

Clairvaux Catholic School was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Parents claim Clairvaux Catholic School failed to act on sinister threats to her daughter from another student