SA mother speaks out: My daughter was bullied and beaten up at school and then suspended
An Adelaide mother is too fearful to send her 14-year-old daughter back to school after she says she was bullied for six months and then beaten up – only to be suspended alongside her attackers.
Image: Tom Aldahn/InDaily
The mother reported the incident to police and claims the school – Golden Grove High – ignored warning signs her daughter was at risk and failed to protect her.
She has asked InDaily not to name her or her daughter to protect their privacy.
She said her daughter, a Year 8 student, was set upon by three other girls last Wednesday.
“They pinned her up against a wall and smashed her head into the wall – it happened in a building with teachers all around (in neighbouring rooms),” she said.
“Two of the girls grabbed her hair each side and they started slamming her head into a window and one was punching her in the stomach. Then (my daughter) dropped to her knees and they continued banging her head into the brick wall.
“Then they let go and she… just fell over, she fell on the floor and when the teachers came over she was laying on the floor and got suspended. The three girls and my daughter were suspended.”
The mother said her daughter suffered bruising, a sore chest and head and a cut to her leg, as well as being “emotionally scarred”.
The mother said the school told her her daughter was suspended as well because “they can’t get to the bottom of it right now so we’re suspending everybody”.
“But she was defending herself – she said she was just waving her arms around, she didn’t know what to do,” she said.
“I’ve asked the school to remove that from her record. I said there’s absolutely no way you can have that on her record when she was the one being beaten up.”
The mother said the fight followed months of her daughter being bullied and threatened.
“She has been bullied for a while now – the main girl has been picking on her for quite a while,” she said.
“She’s thrown things at her. Just hurling abuse, whether in the classroom, in front of teachers, on the playground, just so abusive, threats to beat her up, social media is obviously awful.
“I’ve been in and out of the school telling them my daughter has been threatened that this is going to happen.”
The mother said it’s not just her daughter at risk.
“The amount of fights that happen (at the school) and the vidoes I’ve seen… they make me sick. I don’t know how the school can’t deal with this,” she said.
“While my daughter was getting beaten up, two boys were having a fight in the quadrangle – so you’ve got two fights at one time and I think, ‘What is going on, what is wrong here?’ and I don’t know why it’s not resolved.”
The mother said when she reported the incident to police, they were aware of issues at the school.
She’s now trying to find a new school for her daughter.
“I fear for her safety – I don’t trust that the school can protect her,” she said.
“I send her to school to be safe, and she wasn’t safe.”
She questioned whether the school was following appropriate bullying procedures.
“They haven’t taken the appropriate steps to prevent this,” she said.
“They haven’t taken her protection seriously.
“They’ve failed to protect her. They’ve failed to communicate and they’re failing to stop it happening again. It’s going to happen again.”
The mother said she was speaking out because she wanted “to make the parents aware and I want to make the school accountable”.
In a statement, the Education Department confirmed that a report had been made to police, who had contacted the school.
Golden Grove Principal Peter Kuss said the school takes reports of bullying “very seriously and has a zero tolerance policy towards violence or bullying, with the wellbeing of our students and staff at the forefront of our policies”.
“This work includes proactive engagement with students, or groups of students, about appropriate behaviour, steps to ensure their wellbeing and specific coaching to avoid conflicts,” he said.
“There were a number of students involved in the incident reported, which was taken very seriously at the time.”
Kuss said the school had spoken with all the students, staff and parents in the wake of the incident “and disciplinary action was taken in relation to the students’ behaviour”.
“The school has also scheduled a restorative meeting,” he said.
“The school continuously works with students and staff to create a respectful and supportive environment.
“The school has a clear policy to manage allegations of bullying, which has been adhered to on this occasion, taking all circumstances into account.
“Any parent who has concerns about behaviour within the school is welcome to speak with school leadership about the issue.”