The students of Mullumbimby High School in northern New South Wales walked out of class on Monday, protesting the “constant bullying” and “lack of supervision” at the school, following a brawl that resulted in the death of a student.

Last Friday a lunch time fight caused a student to be sent to hospital suffering serious head injuries where he later died. Investigations into the death are continuing.

On Monday, friends of the boy organised a march in response to the bullying culture of the school which they believe in part contributed to the death. The boy’s father called for the students to use the march to remember his son rather then to express anger about the death. The protesting students reportedly went to a nearby park where they sang songs and spoke about the boy.

The NSW education minister Verity Firth has defended the school as ‘not particularly violent’. She highlighted that the school is well below the state average in the number of serious incident reports filed.

The school is now beginning to return to normal. Counsellors have been assigned to the school to help students cope with the death, and it has been announced that a third deputy has been added to the schools staff to help manage the school.

Writer Tristan Boyd, Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.