Prep students assaulting staff, students as violent incidents on Victorian school grounds escalate

Violent prep students are stabbing assistant principals, kicking staff and hurting their fellow classmates, with children as young as five among those terrorising teachers and pupils on Victorian school grounds.

A student was threatened by a knife-wielding parent, according to the report.

Violent prep students stabbing assistant principals, and biting and throwing scissors at staff are among those carrying out a litany of assaults on Victorian school grounds.

Children as young as five have been suspended and primary school teachers have been forced to barricade their young charges in classrooms to shield them from other rampaging students.

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The disturbing details are ­revealed in a dossier recounting violence in schools — which also shows some parents are behaving badly.

Cases of assault and aggressive behaviour by pupils against staff rose by 27 per cent, and against pupils by 9 per cent, in a year.

Among more than 2000 cases in 2018 were these:

• Two classrooms were evacuated after a prep boy threw chairs, hurt fellow pupils, and repeatedly spat at the assistant principal and stabbed her in the neck with a pencil;

• Staff barricaded a classroom door with a table to protect children from a boy, 9, who was wielding broken glass after he assaulted five girls and repeatedly kicked teachers;

• A Year 8 boy was taken to hospital after a classmate stabbed him in the thigh with a stolen box cutter;

• Primary school teachers were trapped in the staffroom by two pupils who threatened them with fire extinguishers and baseball bats; and

• A boy, 5, was suspended for kicking and injuring staff and chasing pupils.

Police were also called to multiple cases of parents threatening pupils; one mum pulled a knife on a boy.

In one incident, a nine-year-old boy was wielding broken glass after assaulting five girls.

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Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show students brought knives to school but also used everyday tools as weapons such as laptops, hockey sticks, cordless drills, chairs, pens and pencils, scissors, and even school bags.

In at least four cases, pupils tore fire extinguishers from walls to brandish them at staff.

Police were forced to remove a grade 5 boy from school grounds after he tried to hit his teacher with a fire extinguisher and stabbed him in the thumb with a pen.

And a boy, 11, and girl, 10, sprayed fire extinguishers around their school in November before taking baseball bats from the shed, trapping their teachers in the staffroom, and vandalising the office.

Staff also had to call police to deal with parents attacking their children’s classmates.

In just over a week last April, three parents assaulted or threatened pupils over disputes with their children.

One father pushed, swore at and threatened a grade 5 boy while coaxing his grade 6 son to throw stones at the child.

A mother threw a bottle at a year 8 girl over an incident with her daughter that had already been resolved.

And police were called after a mother and her adult son threatened staff and students over the handling of a fight between the woman’s daughter, 14, and another girl.

In October, a mother pulled a knife on a year 10 boy at a park opposite the school. A staffer stood between the parent and child, talked the mum down, and police were called.

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Police call-outs to schools for violence fell 15 per cent last year to 198 cases, but violent incidents overall climbed 110 per cent, to 2077 incidents. The Herald Sun understands this is being attributed to new reporting requirements.

Acting Education Minister Gayle Tierney said the government had set up a dedicated taskforce and trained staff to deal with violence and challenging behaviour in schools.

“We’re supporting schools to prevent violence, and to intervene quickly if it does occur,” she said.

“Violence or threatening behaviour is unacceptable — in our schools and in our community.”

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