Rotorua Girls’ High School put in lockdown after incident

Entrance to Rotorua Girls High School.

Rotorua Girls’ High School went into lockdown and police were called after members of the public entered school grounds during interval today and allegedly attacked two students.

Principal Sarah Davis told the Rotorua Daily Post the school went into lockdown because family members from both sides were arriving, “and we really weren’t comfortable with that so we called the police”.

Davis said CCTV footage showed three staff members near the two students at the time of the incident.

“So we had it well contained the whole time.”

Footage showed the two students “sitting doing nothing” at the time, Davis said.

Davis said the incident followed something that “happened on the weekend”.

“It was an out-of-school thing.”

An announcement was posted on the high school’s Facebook page about 12pm.

“There is now no danger and classes will continue as per the timetable,” the post said.

Davis said she was pleased police arrived and helped contain the situation quickly.

“All up it might have been 20 minutes,” she said.

“I understand both families are dealing with it out of school,” Davis said.

The two students were fine and had gone home with family.

“We understand the two families are getting involved to manage it,” she said.

The school would be working with the families to make sure they could return to school safely.

Police told the Daily Post they were called about 11am to an Old Taupo Road address after a report of two people being allegedly assaulted.

There were no serious injuries reported and an ambulance was not required.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested and charged with serious assault, and was due to appear in Rotorua District Court on Friday.

Police were still working to find another individual believed to have been involved.

Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.