THE Tenison Woods College community has been left stunned amid revelations of a violent “fight club” scenario unfolding among students at the school last week.
It is understood eight students organised voluntary one-on-one bouts in a school bathroom, involving 12 other students who were equipped with boxing gloves.
The fights – involving male students from both middle and senior school – left two children with blood noses.
After discovering the fights last Tuesday, the school took immediate action.
“As soon as the incident was detected the students were withdrawn and then deliberate investigation was immediately undertaken,” a school spokesperson said.
“Parents were contacted that evening and were supportive of the school’s action.”
The students were suspended internally on Wednesday and required to complete “community service” on Thursday.
It was revealed a further 20 students crammed into the bathroom to watch the event, with some capturing video footage.
“The parents of these students were contacted on Thursday evening and these students were met with by leadership staff on Friday morning to discuss the impact of their bystander behaviour,” the spokesperson said.
“These students have served yard withdrawal on Friday and will be completing a further day of community service in the near future.”
Multiple sources have described the video of the incident, which allegedly shows two children trading blows in front of a large crowd of other students.
“We are disappointed the fights were organised and have been videoed,” a school spokesperson said.
“This has been made clear to the students.”
“At Tenison Woods College, the safety of all students is of paramount importance.
“As such, we are very disappointed that a small number of students chose to make decisions that enabled the boxing to occur.
“We trust that our deliberate and decisive actions will help our young males to make better decisions in the future.”
Police were not called to the incident, however they attended the school on Wednesday for an unrelated information session with the Poplars Inclusive Education unit.
Limestone Coast Police operations inspector Campbell Hill said he was not aware of the incident when contacted by The Border Watch yesterday.
However, he condemned fighting in such a manner.
“People need to understand the implications of engaging in this type of behaviour can escalate quickly and possibly outside the scope of the anticipated consequences,”Insp Hill said.
“Simply put – it can get out of control quickly.
“What may seem a ‘fun’ idea can quickly change the life of anyone participating – from those involved, through to your family, friends and those who witness it.”
He highlighted the potential consequences of such behaviour, which have been well-publicised in recent times.
“We as a society are all too familiar with the consequences of ‘one punch’ assaults, due to the serious and fatal head injuries that can be sustained,” he said.
“Engaging in, bluntly put, stupidity such as this, outside the medically supervised or trainer supervised environment could not only see you seriously injured or killed, it could also see you before the courts on serious charges as a result.”
Limestone Coast Police officer in charge Superintendent Phil Hoff said it was disappointing to be talking about the incident on the first day of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
“While this behaviour did not involve females, it displays the entirely opposite attitude we would like to see from our community,” Supt Hoff said.
