BULLIES GO TOO FAR
EXCLUSIVE They said ‘kill yourself’ and troubled teen listened
A STUDENT at an overcrowded Gold Coast high school tried to take his own life after suffering relentless bullying, the boy’s mother says. Parents of Pimpama State Secondary College students say bullying is rife at the school.
A MOTHER says bullying at an overcrowded Gold Coast school drove her son to attempt suicide on three occasions.
Other concerned parents have also complained about bullying at Pimpama State Secondary College saying students were being hit, verbally abused and told to kill themselves.
Mother-of-three Kristy Bates said the bullying had a devastating impact on her teenage son last year.
“He tried to commit suicide three times,” Ms Bates said.
“They not only verbally say it but have (said it) via text, Messenger, Facebook, et cetera.”
Ms Bates said bullies had urged her son to kill himself on a number of occasions.
Her children now attend a private school where they are “thriving”.
Concerned parents initiated a series of meetings with the school to address the issue of bullying in March.
However parents communicating on a private social media group have since expressed frustration that “not much has changed”.
On Friday a fight believed to have occurred outside the school the previous day prompted the college to issue a statement via their Facebook page.
“It was an awful incident for the student involved and disappointing for the school as there has been a huge improvement in the incidents of harassment and bullying in recent months,” it read.
But another parent, who declined to be named, said her son was still seeing incidents every day at the school and had been bullied himself.
She alleged her son had been spat at, pushed around, teased, splashed with water and robbed of a toy.
She said in a recent incident, older students had ganged up on him and pushed him around in a circle before stealing from him.
“He’s in tears,” she said, adding the boy was usually the type to stick up for other children and himself.
“It’s really surprising me … I never thought would be bullied.”
When her son told the teacher what had happened, the teacher questioned the alleged thief who denied stealing the item and the matter didn’t proceed any further.
Another parent said her daughter, in her second week of starting Year 7, had been sitting at a table when another for he girl told her to move. When she didn’t, her daughter was slapped.
“She’s at the stage where she doesn’t want to go (to school),” she said.
“Her schooling’s been good until this school. It’s frustrating ... she shouldn’t be picked on, it has to be stopped.”
Another parent blamed overcrowding at the school.
“I think (bullying’s) across all high schools, it’s not just Pimpama,” she said.
“But it’s a big school and there are too many kids.”
Since the school opened in 2013, the student population has exploded by 400 per cent, according to the school’s website. MP Michael Crandon said the Pimpama school had a number of anti-bullying programs in place but conceded the school was over capacity.
“College student numbers have grown beyond all expectations and, as I understand it, there are around 1430 students at this time,” he said.
“This is around 5 per cent over capacity with the numbers expected to increase throughout the year.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Education and Training said bullying was not tolerated at the school, but “figures on bullying (were) not recorded centrally.”
“Any situation that threatens the safety and well being of students and teachers is treated seriously and dealt with as a matter of urgent priority,” the spokesperson said.
“Students and parents are strongly encouraged to report cases of bullying to their school principal or their closest Department of Education and Training regional office to ensure that the school and department can investigate and provide assistance.”
Gold Coast organiser of Queensland Teachers Union, Jodie Walsh, said bullying was not tolerated in any Queensland school.
HE’S IN TEARS. IT’S REALLY SURPRISING FOR ME … I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD BE BULLIED PARENT OF BULLIED CHILD