An article in The Age on the recent filing of a writ against a non-government school in Victoria (the School) in relation to allegations of negligence is the latest case in a series of cases against schools regarding their handling of student bullying.

Earlier this year we wrote an article about a former student of a Victorian government school suing the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development claiming he was ‘bullied, threatened, humiliated’ and assaulted and racially vilified while at Hawthorn Secondary College.  That student is seeking damages for loss of earnings after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and psychotic symptoms.

New case

According to The Age, in this new case, a former student of the School is suing it for negligence claiming she was ‘relentlessly bullied by classmates, who shoved dirt and rubbish in her mouth’.

The allegations against the school include that:

• a group of students repeatedly told the former student she was fat, ugly and needed a nose job;
• the former student’s parents told the school that she had experienced bullying at her former school and that she was ‘vulnerable to depression if she was victimised’;
• in a 2008 incident a group of students put rubbish, dirt, and bark into the former student’s mouth; and
• the alleged bullying also extended to social media, with ‘spastic, retarded, fat, ugly and disgusting’ comments appearing on a Facebook photo of the girl at the school disco.

According to legal documents referred to by The Age, the student, now 17, has been unable to return to school since Year 8 and claims she is ‘totally incapacitated for work’ as a result of psychological injuries sustained.

As a result, she is seeking costs for loss of earnings from the age of 18 to 67, medical expenses and assistance provided by her family.

What does this mean for schools?

Schools have a duty to provide a safe learning environment for its students.  Educating students on the dangers of bullying and enforcing anti-bullying policies and procedures are important parts of exercising this duty.

However, as this case demonstrates, the actions a school takes to deal with bullying occurring between its students while they are at the school (and on related topics, between its staff and staff and parents) can determine whether it will be exposed to financial or reputational risk in the future if legal proceedings are commenced.

In this case, the former student alleged that the School failed to stop the bullying, despite the girl’s parents repeatedly raising concerns.

While schools owe additional duties of protection to staff members as part of their statutory obligations as employers under State and Territory workplace health and safety legislation, a similar ‘school yard health and safety’ legislative regime does not exist for students.  This means that students, and their parents, expect a high degree of care to be exercised by the school to protect students while under school care.

That expection can be higher if, as in the case of the School currently being sued, a school publicly promotes itself as having ‘a supportive, nurturing environment’ but in practice, its actions (allegedly) undermine such a claim.

In short, bullying can lead to legal action and the amount of compensation that may be awarded against a school if the legal action is successful can depend on various factors, including if the school knew about the bullying.

And if a school makes claims about the strength of its student safety practices, it must ensure that those claims can be substantiated.