School suspends six over incident

Six students at Mana College in Porirua have been suspended after some students went to near-by Bishop Viard College for a fight.

Mana College principal Mike Webster said a Board of Trustees meeting was held last night and it was decided that six students would be suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing.

Mr Webster said other students who were involved could also face discipline.

Police were called to Bishop Viard last Thursday after reports that students from Mana College had turned up in school grounds. One was reportedly armed with a baseball bat.

Kapiti Mana Area Commander Hamish McCardle said last Thursday that about 20 boys turned up at lunch time and threatened students on the rugby field.

Mr McCardle said by the time police arrived at the school, "there were a few Mana College students not in the right school grounds and they were ushered back to their school".

He said police were now playing a role of helping schools to work out what happened.

"The genesis of this is between two boys inparticular, one of whom is an ex-pupil of one of the colleges and has since moved to the other college. They had a grievance when they were at college together and now the grievance continues," Mr McCardle said.

He said the principals of both schools believed the grievance had been sorted out but "obviously there is still water to go under the bridge".

- NZ HERALD STAFF