Tin Can Bay mum says bullies left her with no choice but to homeschool her son

A Tin Can Bay mum says she had no option but to homeschool her son because he was being targeted by bullies, including one attack where a student ‘grabbed him from behind, strangled him, pulled him to the ground and started kicking him in the head’.

14-year-old Tarka Toohill is now homeschooled by his mum after being badly bullied at Tin Can Bay State School.

A Tin Can Bay mum has been forced to quit her day job and homeschool her 14-year-old son after he was badly bullied and threatened with violence at a Cooloola Coast high school.

Single mum Emily Smith said the repeated bullying and violent culture at Tin Can Bay State School resulted in her son Tarka Toohill refusing to go to school.

In recent months, violent brawls occurring on school grounds and in local parks were filmed by students and posted to a private Instagram account.

While Tarka wasn’t involved in the videos posted online, Ms Smith said he was singled out and attacked on his way to the bus.

“He was walking to the bus in the school grounds and this boy grabbed him from behind, strangled him and pulled him to the ground and started kicking him in the head,” Ms Smith said.

“Apparently it was because Tarka didn’t join their group of friends and ended up hanging out with a kid that didn't really have any friends.”

Ms Smith said she was told to contact police about the incident but wasn’t able to take Tarka to the Gympie station for the interview.

The student who attacked Tarka eventually moved schools but Ms Smith said her son was then targeted by a different boy.

“He was threatening to bash Tarka, there was no physical bullying it was just verbal, him saying ‘I’m going to bash you’,” she said.

“Because there was no action the school said they can’t do anything about it because there is no proof.

“They were asking all the other students and of course those kids don't want to own up to it because they don’t want to be snitches.

“If they snitch they end up endangering themselves.”

Ms Smith said the bullying had gotten so bad that Tarka refused to go to school and she was left with no choice but to quit her job and homeschool him.

Tin Can Bay State School where Tarka was badly bullied.

“It's hard on me because my son was absolutely dreading going to school on a Monday, he was totally breaking down every Sunday afternoon, he was scared to be at school,” she said.

“I had no choice … I can’t make him go to school. I would literally have to chain him to the school to get him to stay there.”

This is not the first school where Tarka has been badly bullied and Ms Smith said teachers needed to be teaching children how to treat one another with respect.

“From what I’ve heard there is no control in the classroom anymore,” she said.

“The children are just totally disrespectful towards the teacher and totally disrespectful towards each other.

“The punishment for bullying is suspension – kids love being suspended from school – it is a stupid punishment.”

Tin Can Bay State School physical fight escalates between students on school grounds.

Ms Smith said she knew hundreds of parents that had pulled their children out of school or moved them to another school as a result of violent behaviour, and said technology was also to blame.

“I’m guessing the schools are trying their hardest to stop it, but it needs to be addressed at the root of the cause, which is the fact that children are learning from a screen how to behave,” she said.

“The whole way of living is broken down and that's what we need to be addressing.”

Originally published as Tin Can Bay mum says bullies left her with no choice but to homeschool her son