Melbourne High School under fire for student gag photo to promote year 12 formal

One of Melbourne’s most prestigious state schools is under fire for a social media post depicting its principal posing among gagged students in a confronting image to promote the year 12 formal.

Melbourne High School’s student representative council posted the mock film poster to its Instagram account last week, teasing the release of its formal celebration video.

In the image, principal Dr Tony Mordini and seven students were posed side-by-side in a room with black bars digitally edited across their eyes.

Three students sat on the floor with their hands restrained behind their backs and their mouths taped shut.

Text on the image read: “The Formal Files” and “2026 formal video by MHS SRC”.

“Release the Files” was written in the caption, with some students suggesting it was in reference to the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The image was swiftly deleted from Instagram on Thursday after the Herald Sun contacted the Department of Education for comment.

In a statement, Mr Mordini said: “This image was not authorised by the school and has been taken down”.

A department spokesman said: “This image together with the accompanying text is completely unacceptable and has been removed. The department is seeking clarification from the school of the circumstances of the post.”

It is understood the school has taken action against the students who posted the image.

It is unclear whether the photo was AI-generated or if Mr Mordini posed for it.

A student, who wished not to be named, said the image appeared to reference the Epstein Files.

“This formal video promotion is a blatant reference to the Epstein Files … it should never ever be joked about,” they said.

“Capitalising on the suffering, torture, rape, sexual abuse and trafficking of children perpetuated by America’s elites, and then turning that into a disgusting and distasteful theme for a marketing campaign to promote a year 12 formal event is sick.

“This sort of blatant insensitivity is what has led to the unsavoury reputations which all-boys schools have obtained. I think the post is horribly insensitive.”

The student said it was “concerning” that no senior leaders raised concerns about the image before it was posted.

The video is set to be published on July 24, a day after the school’s formal.

Melbourne High School is an all-boys top performing selective state school in South Yarra.