By Jordan Baker
A year seven student gave the Nazi salute to taunt one of his classmates amid a series of anti-Semitic incidents at an inner west high school.
Two students were suspended after a teacher witnessed the incident at the Balmain campus of Sydney Secondary College, a state high school, early last week, the Herald has learned.
But the anti-Semitic bullying had gone on for at least a month before then.
The parents of 18 year seven students - both the bullies and their victims - were contacted during the investigation sparked by the June 25 incident.
Most of the harassment is understood to have been propagated by the two ringleaders, who were suspended.
The anti-Semitic bullying took place at the Balmain campus of Sydney Secondary College.Credit: Janie Barrett
A Department of Education spokesman said the Balmain campus had disciplined three students for "recent anti-Semitic and racist" behaviour, and the investigation was continuing.
"Parents of these students were informed of the behaviour, and the students have been addressed by a department anti-racism contact officer about the inappropriateness of their behaviour," he said. "Counselling and other support has been offered to the students subjected to this conduct."
Under Department of Education guidelines, suspension is a strategy for managing inappropriate behaviour. It is designed to give students time to reflect on and change their behaviour before returning to school.
Vic Alhadeff, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, applauded the decisive action taken by the school.
“It’s very concerning when children intimidate their peers with such behaviour and at the same time demonstrate complete disregard for the atrocities committed by the Nazis," he said.
The college's anti-bullying policy says that behaviour that infringes on the safety of others, "such as harassment, bullying, and illegal or anti-social behaviour of any kind", will not be tolerated.
Almost 50 per cent per cent of students at the college's Balmain campus are from the top socio-economic percentile. The state school has 785 students, and some 41 per cent speak a language other than English at home.