Melbourne school principal issues plea to fight club students

A disturbing social media trend has emerged involving Melbourne high school students. The videos forced a principal to issue a plea for help.

A Melbourne high school that made news three years ago for an all-in brawl involving up to 80 students has been forced to confront violence in the schoolyard again.

Staughton College in Melbourne’s west was at the centre of a wild fight during a morning break in 2018 – scenes that were captured in a 30-second video and shared on social media.

A concerned parent said at the time that her son had witnessed “up to 80” students involved in the fight.

Fast forward three years and Staughton College students are again involved in similar disturbing activities.

As the Herald Sun first reported, students from Staughton College, Melton Secondary College and Kuranjang Secondary College have been filming and sharing videos of organised fights and one-punch attacks on social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

Several accounts encourage students to send in videos of fights.

The Herald Sun described the videos as part of a ‘fight club’.

In a newsletter to students, Melton Secondary College principal David Reynolds said the footage promoted “violence and a feeling of threat and intimidation towards all members of the community”.

“I am grateful to members of the community who have raised concerns about posts which have recently appeared on private Instagram, TikTok and Facebook accounts, referencing the college, our students and members of staff in highly disrespectful and inflammatory ways,” Mr Reynolds wrote.

“In a similar way, posting footage of students involved in verbal or physical altercations while at school actively promotes violence and a feeling of threat and intimidation towards all members of our community.

“It is extremely disappointing to notice that some of these posts have attracted the attention of Melton Secondary College students who have decided to encourage and promote them by ‘liking’ or forwarding the posts onto others.

“We have seen the negative and sometimes tragic impacts these behaviours cause and for this reason engaging in serious bullying behaviours are a breach of the law.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to report this type of behaviour and prevent it from occurring.

Footage of sickening violent brawls have emerged at schools in Melbourne’s west.

“Where students engage in behaviour that threatens the safety of other students, the Student Code of Conduct requires the college to apply appropriate consequences and work with parents/carers to educate students about how to use digital technology responsively and safely.”

Mr Reynolds said the college was working with police “to identify and stop the perpetrators of online bullying and this kind of misuse of social media platforms”.

News.com.au has approached Staughton College and Kuranjang Secondary College for comment.

The Staughton College fight in 2018 started with two female students when one threw a hair accessory at the other. The altercation then escalated to an all-out brawl.

The school’s principal David Lord reportedly sent out a text message to parents confirming that there was an “altercation” on Tuesday.

“I want to emphasise that there is no place for incidents like this at our school,” the message read.

“It was disappointing to see and certainly does not reflect the behaviour of the overwhelming majority of our students.”

Mr Lord said that no staff or students required medical attention and those involved would be disciplined.

Police reportedly received a call that a fight was planned and patrolled the school area on Tuesday morning but did not witness the brawl.