For three years, former Greater Shepparton Secondary College student Charlie* endured relentless bullying.
The torment began in Year 7 when his classmates realised he would never fight back against a girl.
In the years that followed, Charlie was subject to numerous physical attacks at the hands of his female peers.
Video footage obtained exclusively by news.com.au reveals at least one of these assaults was premeditated.
The clip shows a group of girls tailing and taunting the teenager as he attempts to head home for the day.
When one girl blocks his path, Charlie tries to flee, only to be repeatedly punched in the head as a crowd of students watch on.
Charlie’s mother told news.com.au she fought fiercely to have her son’s attacker expelled.
“She attacked my son four times, so as far as I was concerned, she should have well and truly been ejected from the school,” she said.
“Instead, my son found out she was only given a five-day suspension.”
This punishment points to a broader disciplinary crisis at Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC).
According to exclusive data obtained by news.com.au, about two students received a suspension every day in 2024.
The trouble-plagued super school – which has roughly 2,000 students – didn’t just claim the unwanted title for the most suspensions that year. With a staggering 456 handed down, it also broke its own dismal record.
Located about 190km north of Melbourne, the controversial regional high school has made headlines following ongoing violence and low educational outcomes in the past.
That year, police were called to the school after a student was found carrying a knife while another 31 peer-on-peer assault incidents involving GSSC students were recorded between 2022 and 2024.
The school has had issues with its student culture since it formed from the merger of Shepparton High School, McGuire College, Wanganui Park Secondary College and Mooroopna Secondary College in 2022.
There’s been multiple reports of school fights, teachers working in fear, and staff even creating a watchlist so they could identify the “violent” students.
Fed up with his bullies’ punishments, Charlie’s mum Liz admits her son too fell into a rut of bad behaviour in protest.
“My son started disrespecting the principal, so he was suspended for that,” she said.
“He was suspended for wearing a casual jumper instead of a school one because he lost it and for being on his phone, despite having an exemption that allows him to have his phone on him.”
Charlie was ultimately expelled in June this year.
“My son was expelled but his attackers remain at the school until this day.”
Have a school story? Get in touch – rebecca.borg@news.com.au
The toll of classroom brawls and bullying
Secret data has exposed which Victorian public schools are suspending and expelling the most students, as the state grapples with an escalating classroom behaviour crisis.
Earlier this year, it was revealed an average of 150 students were suspended from Victoria’s public schools every day in 2025.
The suspension rate climbed by 12 per cent, as principals handed out consequences for classroom brawls, relentless bullying, weapons brought through the gates, and vicious online harassment.
Now, following a year-long wait for the Department of Education figures, news.com.au can exclusively reveal the specific campuses slapping students with the most punishments.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show 389 public schools issued suspensions in 2024 – with 92 of those campuses sidelining students more than 100 times.
While GSSC had the most suspensions at 456, Mount Ridley P-12 College’s 2024 suspensions figure followed closely behind, with the consequence handed out on 450 occasions.
The school has previously had issues with student brawls, alleged after school hours knife incidents involving pupils and bullying.
Meanwhile Roxburgh College and Hume Central Secondary College recorded over 300 suspensions for the 2024 school year.
Just under 100 junior schools also made the list, including Newbury Primary with 104 suspensions, Wallan Primary with 84, Melrose Primary with 53 and St Georges Road Primary in Shepparton with 52.
This is in addition to several combined schools where the number of primary and secondary student suspensions was not distinguished.
The data also focused on expulsions, with 236 students disciplined across 123 campuses.
This translates to one student on average being permanently kicked out every single school day.
Manor Lakes P-12 College recorded the most expulsions in 2024, with nine students shown the door, followed by Craigieburn Secondary and Keysborough Secondary at seven.
Five schools, including Glenroy College, Melbourne Secondary and Staughton College, handed out six expulsions, while Brunswick Secondary, Kambrya College and Phoenix P-12 Community College handed out five.
There was also at least one expulsion at 20 primary schools.
The societal crisis driving the stats
Education experts say parents have every right to be concerned about the figures noting principals don’t turn to suspensions and expulsions lightly.
But Monash University Faculty of Education Associate Professor Fiona Longmuir told news.com.au the 2024 figures say more about the state of Victoria’s communities, and the volatile social and economic conditions of the world, than they do about the state’s schools.
“Children and young people are growing up in challenging times: families are managing economic and social pressures; mental ill-health is rising; social and political extremism is pervasive; gendered violence and misogyny is ubiquitous, and the list could go on,” she said.
“Given these broader circumstances, Victorian public schools are doing an incredible job. And doing this job while their resources are being stretched more thinly, their capacity to respond to individual students’ needs is being reduced through standardising policies, and they are continually blamed for issues beyond their control.”
Monash School of Educational Psychology and Inclusion Associate Professor Erin Leif added there were a number of reasons why principals opted for suspensions and expulsions, with it not just being about bad behaviour.
“The most serious cases involve behaviour that threatens safety, such as physical assault, bringing a weapon to school, serious threats, property destruction or substance-related behaviour,” she said.
“But schools also deal with lower-level disruption: refusing instructions, abusive language, repeatedly leaving class, excessive noise and persistent interruption.”
While a serious consequence, Associate Professor Leif said “we cannot suspend our way to safer schools”.
“Research consistently shows that the most effective behaviour support is educational and preventive, not simply punitive,” she said.
“Schools need a tiered system: strong teaching, clear expectations and positive relationships for every student; early, targeted help for students beginning to struggle; and intensive, individualised support for those with the greatest needs.
“They also need reliable data, multidisciplinary teams, trained behaviour and mental-health professionals, sustained teacher coaching, and time for staff to work with families. If we wait until behaviour reaches crisis point, we have waited too long.”
“Drawing a Line”: Why disciplinary actions are necessary
While it may seem alarming the number of suspensions across schools is rising, Australian Principals Federation President Andrew Cock said there were a number of factors contributing to this.
“We’re seeing growth in the number of schools that we have across Victoria and therefore the number of students in our school system,” he said.
“But we’re also seeing a highlighted awareness where some of these behaviours may have been brushed aside or not dealt with such as rising misogynistic behaviour.
“We also have our new psychosocial laws so nowadays it is leadership’s job to ensure that every staff member is feeling safe in their workplace and that they have the right to feeling confident that they’re not going to be subject to any violence or aggression whether it be physical or psychological.”
Mr Cock also added suspensions shouldn’t also be seen in a negative light – rather they’re an opportunity for students to reflect on what they need to do to “step up and meet the mark”.
“Suspensions can be used as an opportunity to draw that line in the sand and to indicate to the individual and the wider student community of what’s acceptable and what’s not,” he said.
The Department of Education has clearly defined grounds for suspensions and expulsions, including situations that pose a danger to other staff or students, cause significant property damage or continually interfere with the education of others.
“Where disciplinary action is required, principals use a range of options including suspension and expulsion to manage student behaviour in schools and meet the expectations of school communities,” a Department of Education spokesman said.
“Expulsion is only used as an absolute last resort as we want every Victorian student to be able to attend their local school.”
*The name Charlie has been chosen as a pseudonym to protect the student’s identity.