Marist College Ashgrove: Students allegedly attack female teacher with food

Hundreds of students reportedly approached the teacher in an incident that was described by her union as violent.

Students allegedly threw food at a female teacher at a boys’ Catholic school in Brisbane. Picture: Google

A female teacher was allegedly attacked by students at a boys’ Catholic school in Brisbane throwing food at her.

Up to 300 students were present when a teacher was on playground duty at Marist College Ashgrove during lunch on October 27, according to documents seen by NCA NewsWire.

It’s understood the students initially gathered in anticipation of a fight between students before some of the group turned on the teacher.

Some students in the mob allegedly attacked the teacher by throwing food at her from less than a metre away.

A female teacher was allegedly physically attacked with food by students at Marist College Ashgrove. Picture: Google

The teacher reportedly felt trapped while the group that encircled her ignored her requests to stop and continued to partake in “mob mentality behaviours”, including running, pushing and encouraging each other to fight.

The group finally dispersed when the bell rang and other teachers came to the female teacher’s aid to free her.

The teacher’s union, the Independent Education Union Queensland and Northern Territory, wrote a letter to the college headmaster Michael Newman on Monday, saying the students “presented an unacceptable physical and psychological risk”.

“These incidents exposed staff to a serious risk to their health and safety, emanating from an immediate/ imminent exposure to occupational violence,” the letter said.

The same day, Mr Newman sent out a letter to parents describing an “unfortunate incident” that the school was taking “seriously”.

The teacher allegedly felt trapped by the students. Picture: Google

“I am aware of the allegations being raised regarding the incident and while a number are factually incorrect they are all being taken seriously,” the letter said.

“The incident remains under investigation with staff and students.

“The safety of all staff and all students is always our highest priority.”

Mr Newman was contacted for further comment on the factual inaccuracies in the allegations but declined to respond.

The school sent a letter to parents saying they are taking the incident ‘seriously’. Picture; Google

Union branch secretary Terry Burke said the union supported and represented its members at Marist College Ashgrove.

“Following an incident involving students and staff last week, our union has directly expressed our members’ concerns to the school principal,” he said.

“We are unable to comment further at this stage.”