The 15-year-old's family say Stephen knew he was to fight another boy, and was "a little bit fearless" about it despite being small.
His main opponent was allegedly helped by an older teenager and fatal punches were thrown in a "moment of madness", police say.
Stephen wasn't known to his family as a fighter but as "gentle, well mannered and respectful", his aunt Dr Margaret Dudley says.
"But apparently it was pre-arranged, like they do ... You know, there will be a fight after school ... I've heard that was the situation."
Two boys, aged 15 and 17, appeared in court following the incident - both charged with assault.
Police believe the fight was filmed on a cellphone and several mobiles have been collected as part of the investigation.
Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand president Tom Parsons says there is always potential for someone to die in a school fight.
"They watch it on TV and they don't appreciate the severity of it ... they're only youngsters, they're naive.
"After they've been around a while and seen some of the trauma that's created with incidents such as that, or indeed motor vehicle accidents - not wearing a seatbelt and so on - it's not until then that they start realising that they're not 10 foot tall and bulletproof."
Stephen Dudley's death was the "extreme end result of something that happens all too frequently in our schools", Mr Parsons says.
"There's not a principal in the country that hasn't learned from that exercise."
Victoria University associate professor and head of school of educational psychology and pedagogy, Dr Vanessa Green, says several factors can contribute to schoolyard violence, with each situation differing depending on the context, the school and the individuals involved.
Policies or cultures within individual schools can play a part, including a lack of conflict management strategies, inadequate teacher supervision, or a general school culture which accepts or condones violence.
"There are practical issues involved too, such as physical confinements of school grounds and a lack of activities or opportunities in school - resulting in boredom among students, which can lead to violence or aggression as a means of thrill-seeking.
Dr Green says the violence students are exposed to through media is particularly important.
Mr Parson agrees:
"The worst thing's TV. They think they can knock a guy down in the playground and the kid will dust himself off and go back to how it was before.
"That's not the case. You end up with guys in hospital with broken hands, broken jaws, broken noses, concussion and so on."
Gender debate
Boys may be genetically more likely to engage in rough and tumble behaviour.
But such behaviour may also be encouraged by social ideas about what 'proper boys' are supposed to do, Dr Green says.
The acceptance or expectation of rough behaviour can then develop into an acceptance and expectation of violence as typical male interaction.
But it's not just boys getting into schoolyard scrapes, and what is considered "socially acceptable behaviour for girls" is also changing, she adds.
Girls may have as much anger, boredom, and frustration as boys, but girls' issues can be compounded or worsened by the classic 'mean girl' culture - where power is usually established by sharing secrets, gossiping and backstabbing, Dr Green says.
Mr Parsons says depending on the age of students, girls tend to get into fights because of boys, while boys tend to get into fights because their pride has been wounded.
"The macho 'my pride has been stood on and you're the one that's doing the standing and I'm going to take you off my shadow'.
"It's pecking order, it's law of the jungle, and it's just a damn shame that pecking order wasn't determined by academic prowess."
A Rotorua schoolgirl fight videoed and posted online last month, disgusted and shocked members of the community.
The fight was said to have been pre-arranged between a 13 and 16-year-old girl and was filmed outside Western Heights' High School.
The video showed the 13-year-old laying into her victim, punching and kicking as a crowd gathered.
A girl uploaded the video to her Facebook profile with the comment "hahaha".
Rotorua police Inspector Ed Van Den Broek describes the incident as "disgusting".
"I've spoken to several of our long serving frontline officers and they were just disgusted by the fight and the publicity for it."
Western Heights' High School principal Violet Pelham said in a statement the incident was not a reflection of Western Heights' High School, but a "reflection of a small section of the community at large".
Schools' action
Mr Parson says schools "are a reflection of the wider community outside".
"You show me a community that is extremely positive and moderate and cooperative and supportive - and I'll show you a wonderful school."
When dealing with schoolyard fights, schools can either deal with the matter internally - using restorative justice conferences or recommendations from the school's board of trustees - or bring in outside agencies such as Child Youth and Family or police, Mr Parsons says.
With restorative justice, "the student is made very aware of the mana that's been taken away from the victim" and their family.
The conference works just like a court system, where the perpetrator has to confront the family and those who have been injured, which can be "very sobering".
In most cases the conference is successful, however in others the perpetrator can refuse, or "the student may well have been in the system for such a long time that he pays lip service to it, but there's no actual sincerity behind it and the aggrieved parties are aware of that very quickly".
Victims often want the police involved as the violence constitutes common assault, Mr Parsons says.
"Some of our students, I mean they're 18-years-old - they're adults."APNZ
