Are our girls safe at school?

Carly Udy | 14th November 2009

An alleged beating at a Bay school is a reflection of a rising trend in violence among young females, experts say.

A Western Bay parent is challenging Katikati College's zero-tolerance stance on bullying,
 claiming her daughter was beaten up at school by  other girls and the culprits  only given lunchtime detentions.

The  allegation comes as Bay social agencies say they are seeing  more violent offending among young women.

Les Simmonds, clinical leader for Relationship Services in the Bay of Plenty, said his team  noticed a growing trend of young women displaying "aggressive and violent tendencies".

The incident at Katikati College on November 3 was said to have been filmed and  seen by "most" of the school, although college principal Peter Leggat said  incident  had not been as severe as claimed.

Lori Niven  claims her daughter Brooke Robins, a Year 9 student,  sustained bruising to her ribs and back, swollen fingers and was left with a red mark  on her face after being  set upon in the school grounds by four Year 8 girls  with a "gang mentality". A fifth girl is alleged to have filmed the attack.

 Brooke, 13,  said there had been tensions between herself and the girls earlier in the day.  One of them had texted her, accusing her of wanting a fight.

 The confrontation had taken place on the school tennis courts about 2.30pm.

"It was pretty painful, I couldn't move and afterwards I couldn't breathe," Brooke said. "I was in the middle of girls kicking and punching me."

She  also reportedly had  water poured over her during the attack.

"I was so angry when I found out nothing had happened to them.

"It's so unfair."

  Brooke visited the school nurse to have her fingers wrapped before going home. She had  gone to school the following day but when bruising emerged that night, her mother had kept her home  the next day.

A day after the incident, a comment was left on Brooke's Bebo page by one of her alleged attackers. The comment, viewed by the Bay of Plenty Times, read: "shame broke u gts hiding by a lil yea 8. how dus it fel cryiing in tha corner? u lil puci."

Mrs Niven said  she had asked what disciplinary action the school was taking against the girls  and was angry it did not involve suspension.  The attack  had been pre-meditated due to the girls having a video camera, she said. The footage is being held by the school. She  has taken her  concerns about  "insufficient" punishment to  Katikati College and  police.

 "I don't want this happening to another child and I want it stopped.

"I do feel the college handled it inappropriately. So many parents think school is gospel and they [parents] don't have any say.

"Of course, I'm not impartial because she's my daughter but in no way shape or form do I feel I've blown it out of proportion.

"Everyone I've spoken to is disgusted and I don't see myself as overemphasising it."

Another parent who has a Year 7 daughter at the school, and who asked not to be named, said her child had been verbally threatened by the same  girls  a week  before the attack on Brooke. Her daughter had  filed an incident report with the school.

Mr Leggat described the incident involving  Brooke  as "minor" and not as Mrs Niven had reported.

He said the account was "one-sided" and "inaccurate" but refused to give the school's version of events. He simply said the matter had been "fully investigated".

The girls involved had been sanctioned for their actions but he would not confirm the punishment, saying it was an internal matter. All those involved had been spoken to.

The video footage Mrs Niven referred to was no more than "three to four seconds".

"We do not condone any physical confrontations between students and treat every situation seriously," he said. "We have every confidence we have dealt with it to the very best of our ability and with the best interests of all students."

Mr Leggat said the school had invited Mrs Niven to school to discuss the matter but she declined. The offer still stands. Mrs Niven said she'd already had an in-depth conversation over the phone with the deputy principal and did not feel it necessary to have everything repeated in person.

Dr Donna Swift, a South Island-based social anthropologist who has been studying girls and violence for the past five years,
 said there had been a change in reporting violent behaviour among girls.

"It's not an epidemic of girls, but certain small groups who are engaging and pulling in other girls in a significant leadership group, who are manipulating and leading others astray," she said.

Ms Swift said schools were both under-resourced and under-funded. Violence was a community issue and reflected a societal change in attitude, she said.

"It's not just a parenting or school issue."

Mr Simmonds said gender socialisation influenced the way young females were expressing their emotions.

Nynette Martin, who manages Impact Tauranga, a residential care programme for young women and an alternative school for teenagers, backed up the trend. She said one of the reasons some of the girls were at the alternative school was that they had been kicked out of mainstream school for anti-social behaviour.

"They are not afraid to be violent if they need to be," she said.

Education Ministry figures show a 41 per cent increase in girls being stood down, suspended or kicked out of school for assaults between 2002 and 2006.  Police statistics show girls make up 30 per cent of the under 17 youth that come to their attention for violent offending -  paralleling boys.

 A report from the Office of the Children's Commissioner revealed bullying rates at New Zealand schools are more than 50 per cent above the international average.