Significant decrease in incidents reported at Golden Grove High School before violent altercation
Data has revealed a big change in behaviour at a northern suburbs high school in the wake of another violent incident on its campus.
SA News
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While an embattled northern suburbs high school community was rocked by a violent altercation on its campus this week, incidents have been trending down at the site.
The latest Education Department statistics revealed suspensions dropped by about 45 per cent from 2023 to 2024 at Golden Grove High School, where on Monday police and an ambulance were responded to a violent altercation.
The alleged victim of the incident, a 15-year-old girl, was taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
When Northern District police arrived at the scene, they identified the suspect involved in the incident, a 15-year-old boy.
He was reported for assault and may be summoned to attend court at a later date.
Golden Grove High School principal Peter Kuss said three students were involved in the incident “with a drink being tipped over a student and another student’s hair pulled and their head hitting the ground”.
On Tuesday, parents of students at the school told The Advertiser they were concerned that Golden Grove had not made progress since 2022, when it was engulfed in controversy after a spate of violent incidents and anti-social behaviour.
But comparative data from term 2 of 2023 and 2024 showed suspensions had decreased from 81 to 45 and exclusions from two to just one last year.
There were also 29 times a student had to be taken home early in 2023, compared with just three in 2024.
There were 16 critical incidents in the last 14 weeks of school in relation to student violence in 2022, compared to 15 in 2023, down to 12 in 2024 to December 6.
Education Department chief executive Professor Martin Westwell refuted “any suggestion that student behaviour at Golden Grove High School is unchanged”.
“This school has seen a significant improvement in behaviour since 2022,” Prof Westwell said.
He highlighted that the department and the school’s leadership “have worked extremely hard to set in place supports, training, behaviour standards and wellbeing options to ensure the best learning outcomes for students”.
“The school has a zero-tolerance policy in terms of violence and bullying and will continue to enforce its policies and procedures in terms of managing unacceptable behaviour by students and parents/carers,” Prof Westwell said.
The latest data for suspensions and exclusions at all schools in South Australia showed Whyalla Secondary College ejected 137 students in 2024, nearly triple the same figure for Golden Grove.
The school was outside the top 10 for suspensions and expulsions in 2024.
Originally published as Significant decrease in incidents reported at Golden Grove High School before violent altercation
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