Leavers 2021: Two South West schools’ leavers stage sordid dares as part of end-of-school celebrations

Shocked Education Department officials have called in the police after school leavers taking part in out-of-control scavenger hunts filmed themselves snorting drugs off each other’s buttocks, having sex on football ovals and smoking their pubic hairs in public. The South Western Times can reveal Year 12 students at Manea Senior College (MSC) and Bunbury Senior High School (BSHS) have staged a series of outrageous end-of-year challenges — many of them involving brazen drug-taking, sex, public urination and dangerous stunts — in place of traditional “muck-up days”. The Bunbury teens have been competing in teams to earn points by completing up to 150 antisocial activities on a checklist in two separate hunts in recent weeks. Participants then posted “evidence” on private Snapchat “stories” for other school leavers to see. A copy of the MSC scavenger hunt checklist obtained by the newspaper shows participants from the Bunbury school could earn 90 points if they had sex on Albert Oval on Bunbury Catholic College grounds or 100 points if they were arrested or got a tattoo “equal or bigger than a 20¢ coin”. A large score was also given to team members who snorted “a line” off a person’s buttocks, performed a sexual act with a biscuit, posted full frontal nude images to their social media, drank seven shots of alcoholic spirits, engaged in oral sex in a suburban street, slashed a car tyre or had a photo taken with a police officer. Videos purporting to document the stunts, seen by the Times, show a male apparently snorting a substance from a teenage girl’s buttocks, a pair appearing to have oral sex on Hands Oval in South Bunbury, another couple seemingly engaging in sexual intercourse at the nearby PC Payne Park football oval and a boy drinking water from a bong in public. Several videos show students urinating from the Bunbury Tower and jumping nude from the Koombana Bay Pedestrian Bridge, while one shows a young female swimming naked in a Bunbury water fountain surrounding the well-known Brother and Sister sculpture. Some MSC students were keen to boast on social media that they had met challenges, including one girl who posted a video that she completed number 74 which was to “get a piercing” with bonus points if it was on the nipple. The BSHS checklist states teams can earn 300 points if they “snort a line” with a Bunbury sex worker and 200 if they have sexual intercourse in a public toilet or steal a mailbox. Points were also awarded to students who snorted drugs off a girl’s breasts, urinated in their pants inside a store, showed up naked to a person’s house and asked for clothes, played pornography on public transport “super loud” or “smoke pubes in a bong”. “Have your score written at the top of your sheet to hand back to me, then ill (sic) make sure they’re right and announce winners,” a line at the bottom of the checklist states. “Tasks involving your whole group can be filmed by outside people but everything else only by group members.” Department of Education deputy director-general Melesha Sands said the behaviour of students involved was “appalling and unacceptable” and the department was working with police on the matter. “I am shocked that any young person would let themselves, their school communities and their families down in this manner,” she said. “WA public schools do not condone students participating in activities such as these. “The end of Year 12 is a symbolic life event which should be celebrated, however, inappropriate or illegal behaviour is not acceptable and never tolerated. “As part of normal end-of-year processes, secondary schools communicate information and expectations to their students about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, including consequences such as not being able to attend graduation ceremonies.” The department said principals of both schools knew the scavenger hunts were going to take place, but were not aware of specific details. Once MSC found out about the nature of the competition, it alerted police and businesses while students and parents were sent “cautionary communications”. South West District Police Supt Geoff Stewart urged anyone witnessing unlawful or inappropriate behaviour to come forward. Supt Stewart said there could be serious consequences to behaviour that youngsters viewed as a “bit of fun”. “If videoed and placed on social media, it is there forever and you could have a lasting negative impact on how people see you, including future employers,” he said. “It is not ‘just a bit of fun’ if you are breaking the law or subjecting other innocent and unsuspecting community members to puerile behaviour. “Young people do not always see the danger or risk associated with such, especially when they allow themselves to be filmed in inappropriate situations. “The impact of that can range from severe embarrassment to legal issues if they are identified and dealt with by police. “The checklist gives points for a photo with a cop — don’t let it be a mugshot.”