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Wednesday's Final Word
A high school has been locked down after three students, including a 13-year-old girl, and a teacher were injured during a violent brawl.
Students at Emerald State High School in Queensland were barricaded inside their classrooms for two hours after the tussle erupted just before 11am on Wednesday.
A student reportedly pulled out a knife during the brawl, in which three students and a female teacher in her 30s were injured.
A 13-year-old girl was taken to hospital with facial injuries in a stable condition.
The two other students and the teacher were treated by paramedics at the school.
The school remained in lockdown from 10.50am to 12.30pm.
A Queensland Police spokeswoman said officers responded to calls of a physical altercation between ‘several female students’.
‘Police officers attending the incident seized a small knife, which had been thrown to the ground during the altercation and not used to harm anyone,’ she said.
Students at Emerald State High School (pictured) in Queensland were barricaded inside their classrooms for two hours after the tussle erupted just before 11am on Wednesday
Queensland Ambulance workers said they treated three patients at the scene and took one to hospital.
‘Paramedics transported a stable teenage female to Emerald Hospital with facial injuries following a reported assault,’ a Queensland Ambulance spokesman said.
‘Three other patients were assessed but declined transport by ambulance, including two teenage patients with minor facial injuries and a female in her 30s with a minor head injury.’
A spokeswoman for the Queensland Department of Education said emergency services were called to the school to ‘assist staff to safely manage the situation’.
She assured the public that classes returned as normal once the lockdown ended.
‘The department treats the safety and welfare of students and staff as its highest priority,’ she said.
‘Families of students directly involved were contacted immediately and have been offered support.
‘Ongoing counselling and support services are available for those who require it.’
It comes just six months after students at the state school were locked in their classrooms after a student produced a knife while on campus.
In May 2018, police attended the state school after a student brandished a hammer during a mass brawl.
Four years earlier in 2014, 22 students were suspended in a matter of days over a spate of incidents, including a pupil bringing a knife to the school.
