Today on 11/8/2022, Mr H, a teacher at our school, came and stole not 1, but 2 sports balls from the year 10s. While teachers do hold this power as the 'guardians' of students while at school, what happened during this lunchtime was a complete overreach of power.

To begin with, the students were playing a down ball/one-touch game in the middle third of the outdoor basketball court with a light, old volleyball that was chosen in mind that it was soft and would be unable to hurt anyone in the unfortunate event of another student was hit by the ball, although no student has ever been hit. Furthermore, the students found clarity on whether this game could proceed when another teacher decided to join the game. However, the issue arose when Mr H deemed that the game was unsafe for the students playing and those around them. Without discussion with the students or the teacher playing, Mr H took the ball and refused to give it back or hear out the student's reasoning behind their actions. 

With the option of a lighter down ball game being taken from the students, they transitioned to a kick-to-kick with a small football. This again caused an issue as it was once again deemed unsafe. This caused further conflict between the students and Mr H. One student (Doovy) accompanied by another student followed Mr H as he stormed off inside the building, once again seeking clarification for the reasoning behind taking a student's personal football but again no clarification was given. Doovy's persistence with this topic lead to him being removed for the rest of his lunchtime and forced to sit alone outside Mr Kok's office (the head of school). Two students received cautions as a result of their efforts to gain clarification on the issue, and we feel that this an unjust decision for the situation at hand. 

The chaos caused by the removal of the year 10s sports balls mixed with the wet weather day being called, caused the students to be sent back inside. Clearly upset and angry, a mix of students from all year levels began to protest these unjust rules placed upon them without discussion with the students or further teachers, and chants appealing to the teachers to stop Doovy's punishment began to occur. Doovy was released at the end of lunchtime, although there was still major unrest in the student body as to the actions that had taken place during the lunch.

Unfortunately, this issue has not been resolved and will not be finalized until a fair and equal proposal has been made to the students using 'The Cage' and agreed upon by the teachers and students dealing with this issue. We understand that the use of the cage should be equally accessible to all students, but we believe that a fair balance between safety and the opportunity for all students to play sports in the cage has yet to be arranged.

While this may not seem like a major issue for students and the public outside school or even those who use 'The Cage', it can affect any students inside the school and we hope you hear our side of this debate and can support our cause regarding this issue.