Labour declines invitations to a meeting to brief it on NCEA changes, and 16% of students failed to achieve NCEA level 1 or above in 2024. Video / Herald NOW
The principal of an Auckland girls’ school has spoken out about a video of a vicious brawl calling the violence “totally unacceptable”.
Footage of the brutal fight that took place last week showed girls yelling and gesturing to the camera as students punched and kicked each other on theground.
Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend told the Herald that police were investigating an incident at Auckland Girls’ Grammar.
Principal Ngaire Ashmore said the school was taking the incident “very seriously” and confirmed an investigation had been opened.
“This behaviour is totally unacceptable and the school is treating it with the utmost seriousness.”
She said the group of students involved were going through an “investigative process”.
Ashmore also said the small group involved was not representative of the school’s values or the behaviour of the majority of their cohort.
A video has surfaced of a mass brawl erupting at an Auckland girls’ school. Photo / Supplied
“We have 1200 students at our school. This is a small group of students that have behaved absolutely inappropriately and that we are, as a school, treating this very seriously.”
Ashmore said they were providing ongoing support to students who might have been frightened by the violence.
The Herald has chosen not to share the video to protect the identities of those involved.
The video starts with loud yelling and shouting as students in Auckland Girls’ Grammar School uniform run towards a fight at the side of a covered outdoor court.
Moments later, the camera pans up and shows a group of about seven girls standing around another person on the ground, throwing punches and kicking them.
Adults are then seen in the footage trying to break the two students apart before the video ends. Photo / Supplied
There are no distinguishable words in the video, only the yelling and screaming coming from the crowd.
Young witnesses of the fight make gestures mimicking choking to the camera as they watch the incident, crowding around and pulling out their own phones to record.
Halfway through the video, a student breaks free of the crowd and lunges at another, pulling them to the ground in another dramatic tussle.
Adults are then seen in the footage trying to break the two students apart before the video ends.
Footage of a previous fight at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School in 2021 showed students punching each other in the face and tackling others to the ground.
Up to 10 girls appeared to take part in the scuffle in a school carpark.
