Sarina State High School student lifts lid on school’s fighting horror

An Australian high school student has spoken out about the violence plaguing their schoolyard – sharing 12 videos of fights filmed in the last year.

EXCLUSIVE

A fed-up Queensland high school student has opened up about a spate of violence at their school.

The pupil of Sarina State High School, 37km south of Mackay in Central Queensland, shared 12 videos of school fights from the last year alone.

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A student at Sarina State High School in Queensland has spoken out about the violence plaguing their schoolyard.

A student at Sarina State High School in Queensland has spoken out about the violence plaguing their schoolyard.

“There are at least six to seven fights a term, and these are just the ones that have been recorded,” they told news.com.au.

“Fights at school are such a common occurrence that there will be flocks of students surrounding the incident.”

The student, who news.com.au has chosen not to identify, believed the school’s zero-tolerance approach, which he said usually results in suspensions, is largely ineffective and doesn’t address the root cause.

“The teachers and staff just nudge it off, and when some students who get punched, kicked and beaten and defend themselves, they get the same punishment as the person who started the fight,” they explained.

The student shared 12 separate videos he says were filmed in this school year.

A student at Sarina State High School in Queensland has spoken out about the violence plaguing their schoolyard.

“The school has a zero-tolerance policy for fights which means this happens every time, and it’s turned into this mindset of: ‘if I’m also getting suspended, then I might as well fight hard.’

“They might as well put a boxing ring in the school so there will be less blood – it’s that bad.”

The believed the school’s zero-tolerance stance on fighting made the conflict even more severe.

The footage shows both young boys and girls fighting each other. Most videos show a large gathering of students standing around and, at times, cheering and egging on the fighters.

The student is worried violence could escalate if nothing is done.

“There have even been rumours that one person will bring a knife or brass knuckles to a fight to cause the most damage to the other student.”

A Queensland Department of Education spokesperson confirmed the school was aware of fight videos circulating online and detailed what the school was doing to mitigate the violence and bullying.

“Like all Queensland state schools, Sarina State High School is committed to providing a safe, respectful and disciplined learning environment,” the spokesperson said.

“The school has applied consequences for students involved in line with the school’s Student Code of Conduct and also to those students involved in filming the incidents.

Queensland’s Department of Education says Sarina State High School has measures in place to combat a recent spate of violent incidents.

“Positive behaviour strategies are addressed regularly within the school community.

The spokesperson said the school participates in awareness exercises to curb violent behaviour and has avenues where reports could be made anonymously.

“The school participates annually in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, is part of the practical wellbeing program the Resilience Project and uses an anonymous harm reporting tool called STYMIE,” they said.

“Sarina State High School continues to work diligently to promote safe and respectful interactions between students and a safe learning environment for everyone in the school community.”

Originally published as Sarina State High School student lifts lid on school’s fighting horror