Court finds school's duty of care extends beyond school gate

The NSW Supreme Court recently ruled that a school had failed in its legal duty of care for a 14-year-old boy after he suffered an unprovoked attack, even though it occurred outside school hours and beyond the school grounds.

Student attacked outside school gate after end of school day

The former Sydney schoolboy won $1.75 million in damages from the state after he was bashed by a gang of twelve fellow students after school. (Please see T2 (by his tutor T1) v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1347.)

The attack happened in 2017 and the victim is now an adult.

The court heard the boy was leaving school at the end of the day when another boy told him that a classmate, a 14-year-old boy known in court as XY, wanted to see him.