Troubling footage of schoolgirls being kicked, pushed to the ground and stomped on has surfaced online as a violent 'fight club' erupts at a string of schools.
Students from high schools in Melbourne's southeast have been shown getting into vicious schoolyard brawls on a notorious private Instagram page.
The account has posted up to 130 clips of students ripping each other's hair, punching and kicking each other as bystanders egg them on.
In one distressing clip, two girls grip each other's hair tightly while trying to land blows with their arms and legs in the middle of a basketball court.
In another, a terrified victim on the ground tries to shield her face with her hands while her attacker is encouraged to strike her repeatedly.
One student is heard calling the student on the floor a 'b****' while her attacker uses her feet to kick her in the head and upper body.
In another clip, two male students brawl beside a locker bay before one of them falls to the ground and is viciously kicked in the head.
The Instagram page has posted up to 30 clips of vile attacks at schools in Frankston and other southeastern suburbs just in the last week.
Up to 10 schools are involved in the active account, which boasts 2,000 followers.
Parents have expressed their concern over the page, with some taking matters into their own hands and reporting the page to Instagram several times.
A senior police officer from the area told the Herald Sun he was frustrated the account was still posting clips of violent schoolyard brawls.
'The videos are extremely graphic and it just astounds me that Instagram has not taken the reports seriously,' he said.
Cyber security expert Susan McLean said the videos depicted 'criminal assault'.
'The police should be involved and the individuals should be charged,' she said.
School board advisor Simon Dewar believes social media platforms should be doing more to shut down the content and prevent children from ruining their future and the lives of others.
'Social media platforms have got a big role to play in this, they can certainly do more I feel,' Mr Dewar said.
'But in addition to that, I don't think that we can wait for social media platforms to take this and to make things better.
'So as a community there's lots we can do.'
The former principal who now advises teachers and school leaders on how to curtail violence in schools said the long-term impacts on regularly viewing such violent content is going to be 'significant'.
'Unfortunately we are seeing young people in general show more acts of violence and those acts of violence are varying,' Mr Dewar said.
'Although it's not every student, every school, every day; what it might feel like is that there's been that increase because we are seeing it through our social feeds.'
A Department of Education spokesman said: 'We work actively with community organisations and the police to address and prevent any violence or conflict outside school grounds leading to incidents inside schools.'
Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia: 'Police do not condone the sharing of any footage across social media that glorifies violence.
'Assault is a criminal offence with serious consequences – it is absolutely not something to be celebrated or shared for entertainment purposes.
'If you witnessed an assault or have been a victim of this kind of violence, we strongly encourage you to contact police immediately so the matter can be immediately investigated.
'Police have no evidence to suggest that the sharing of violent footage on social media is encouraging others to get involved in fights or brawls.'
