An 8-year-old boy was admitted to hospital for several days after he was held down and beaten by five girls who claimed he tried to look up their skirts.
Parua Bay Primary School principal Tim Hempleman said the girls, aged 8 or 9, had been given several detentionsafter he learned they had beaten up the boy in a classroom three times before school.
On one occasion, three of the girls held the boy down, while one stood on him and another repeatedly kicked him in the groin.
"I couldn't believe it because they were such nice kids," he said.
"We have never had anything like this in our lives here. It is completely amazing."
Mr Hempleman said he learned about the bullying at the school, 20km southeast of Whangarei, nearly a week ago.
The boy's mother had telephoned him and said her son was admitted to hospital with abdominal pain after being attacked by the girls earlier this month.
The girls were "pretty cunning about it", he said. They had waited until the teacher left the room, then pushed the boy over.
Teachers did not notice that the boy was hurt. Because he was attacked by girls, he had kept quiet.
Mr Hempleman said the girls told him the boy had tried to look up their skirts.
The decision to punish them with detentions was made at a special meeting of board members and the parents of those involved.
The girls were offered counselling and apologised to the boy's mother.
A local police constable told the school it had acted appropriately, Mr Hempleman said.
Everyone was happy with the outcome and all the children were now playing together.
But the girls' planning what they had done had been a shock. He said a teacher was always on duty from 7.30am to supervise the 75 per cent of students who travelled to Parua Bay Primary by bus.
