‘Lost faith’: Mount Ridley College parents distraught over relentless school bullying

Parents at a high school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs say “no one cares” that someone is going “to die” as students ramp up relentless bullying attacks and allegedly threaten each other with knives.

Distraught parents fear someone is going “to die” before a northern suburbs high school takes a stronger stance against bullying and students allegedly threatening their peers with knives.

A group of Mount Ridley P-12 College families say they’ve “lost faith” in the Craigieburn school after their children became victims of relentless attacks from bullies.

One father, Kawal, said his 15-year-old son was left “traumatised” and sustained facial injuries after more than a dozen kids allegedly assaulted him on school grounds in February.

“School is a place where kids go for education … they should feel safe,” Kawal said.

“They aren’t supposed to do these kinds of things.”

In a second incident, a 16-year-old boy allegedly threatened to “stab” Kawal’s son if he spoke to police.

The perpetrator later approached and threatened Kawal’s son with a knife while he was walking along Donnybrook Rd on March 20.

A group of Mount Ridley P-12 College families say they’ve ‘lost faith’ in the school after their children became victims of schoolyard bullies. Picture: Mark Stewart

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed investigators had spoken with a 16-year-old boy in relation to the two incidents.

“The investigation remains ongoing,” she said.

Kawal said his son was now too fearful to go to school following the alleged attacks.

“He’s afraid. For the past three days he hasn’t gone to school … even this morning he told me ‘dad I don’t want to go’,” he said.

Kawal said Mount Ridley P-12 College had failed his son after his alleged attacker was allowed to return to campus following a short suspension.

“I don’t have any faith, I lost all my faith, I’m just worried about the safety of my kid,” he said.

“The police can’t do anything, the school can’t do anything and the kid keeps doing whatever he feels like.”

Other Mount Ridley College parents have called out the lack of security and failing standards at their kids’ school. Picture: Mark Stewart

Other Mount Ridley College parents have echoed Kawal’s frustration; calling out the lack of security and failing standards at their kids’ school, with their concerns largely falling on deaf ears.

Parent Kat said her “heart breaks” for the students, fearing any further escalation in violence may lead to a tragic outcome one day.

Kat pulled her son from Mount Ridley P-12 College halfway through year 10 after years of growing incompetence.

“No one cares at that school … I honestly feel a human is going to die and it would still be swept under the carpet anyway,” she said.

“I am told by children there are knives and they are in the toilets, and apparently, there is only one ‘safe’ toilet that is manned, but if no one is there that day, then too bad.

“Honestly, my heart breaks for the children.”

The bullying culture allegations come after the Herald Sun revealed in January Mount Ridley P-12 College had the highest number of suspensions in the state, with a total of 1844 students suspended between 2019 and 2023.

Mount Ridley College students use TikTok to rate peers on a scale of 1-10. Picture: TikTok

The bullying isn’t restricted to schoolyard violence, with cyber-bullying also appearing to be an issue.

The Herald Sun found three TikTok pages created to rate students from the school from “flops” to “hottest”.

The accounts feature photos, videos and screenshots of students’ TikTok accounts accompanied by a caption that rates them out of 10.

Other posts are more than just ratings including one that’s captioned: “(Student’s name) after another week or putting people’s faces back in position – he doing them a favour”.

Another post, which features a photo of a girl in Mount Ridley P-12 College uniform, reads “she’s cute”, before referencing an explicit sexual act.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the safety and wellbeing of students was “of paramount importance”.

Picture: TikTok

Picture: TikTok

“We have zero tolerance for bullying at schools, which can have a devastating impact on students and their families,” she said.

“Mount Ridley College has zero tolerance for bullying, and takes any allegations of bullying and harassment seriously, with disciplinary action where required.

“Social media providers have a critical role to play in preventing the publication of content that promotes bullying – and we are continuing to raise this issue with the platforms directly.”

Originally published as ‘Lost faith’: Mount Ridley College parents distraught over relentless school bullying