Teen charged after schoolyard stabbing

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with stabbing a fellow student in the stomach in the playground of a school already notorious for involvement in a race-hate video and a machete attack on a neighbouring school.

The stabbing was on Wednesday morning at Granville Boys High, in southwestern Sydney, moments before the bell rang for the start of classes. It reportedly followed an argument between three boys, two of whom scaled a fence and fled after the third was stabbed at least five times.

One of the pair was arrested after giving himself up to police that evening, but officers were yesterday still searching for the second boy.

The 16-year-old stabbing victim was in a serious condition in hospital but was expected to survive his injuries.

Police said one of the assailants, believed to be the boy still on the run, produced a knife during the playground row, which reportedly followed a history of bad blood among the teens. They said they knew his identity and were confident of catching him soon.

The attack was the latest in a series of incidents involving the school, where 99 per cent of pupils are from non-English-speaking backgrounds.

In 2007 a group of current and former students made a video of themselves posing with firearms and wads of money. The video, posted on YouTube, also included footage of revenge attacks after the Cronulla race riots and showed a map of Australia overlaid with the Lebanese flag and the words "under new management".

In 2008 five teenagers believed to be from the Granville school burst into Merrylands High School wielding machetes and baseball bats. They went on a rampage that left a teacher and two pupils in hospital and caused thousands of dollars of damage.

A 15-year-old has been charged with recklessly causing wounding in company after Wednesday's stabbing.

The Sydney Morning Herald said 34 incidents involving weapons at public schools in western and southwestern Sydney were reported during the first term last year - accounting for nearly half of all such incidents in NSW.