The Otago Daily Times understand a 13-year-old student at the Oamaru school was injured following a playground incident on February 13.
Waitaki Girls’ High School principal Sarah Hay confirmed there was an ‘‘assault of one year 9 student on another’’ within the school grounds.
The incident was significant, but she declined to confirm the extent of any injuries.
‘‘That is not anyone’s business — it's between her and her family.’’
The school community was in shock about the incident, Mrs Hay said.
‘‘It is not what Waitaki Girls’ is about, we don’t have this behaviour at our school.
‘‘It’s hard to believe, the staff are in shock, we’re appalled and disappointed that something like this happened at our school.’’
On the day, the school sent a notice to the school community about a ‘‘significant incident’’.
It assured the community the matter was being treated with ‘‘utmost seriousness’’.
‘‘As a school, we uphold high expectations for respectful behaviour and will continue to work with our students to reinforce these values,’’ it said.
A special assembly was also held to speak to students about safety at the school.
‘‘I expressed my absolute disappointment at some of the bystanders that were there when the incident took place.
‘‘We need to review and reflect on how we can stop anything like this happening again,’’ Mrs Hay told the ODT.
She described it as an ‘‘isolated incident’’ and said police had been notified.
The school was not alone in having to deal with unacceptable social behaviours, she said.
‘‘There is not a bullying culture here. At times, there is absolutely unkind behaviour that our deans and our pastoral teams have to deal with.’’
Oamaru Police Sergeant Blair Wilkinson said the school informed police about the incident about midday last Thursday.
Several young people were spoken to and police were liaising with the school and parents "to work out ways on how to best manage it, moving forward".
Mrs Hay said the school was reviewing what had happened and was working with the affected student and her family.
A disciplinary process had taken place, but she declined to comment on what that involved.
