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Pupils' street battles leave 14-year-old in hospital
Rob Singh and Dominic Hayes21.04.08
A series of street battles between rival school pupils has left a boy seriously injured and others facing prosecution.
Tensions between pupils from the Harris Academy in South Norwood and St Joseph's College in Upper Norwood have become so serious that police are using a dispersal order which allows them to make any teenagers loitering in the area in groups of two or more go home or face arrest.
The order refers to streets close to Norwood Junction station.
As well as fighting, some pupils and local youths are suspected of being involved in street robberies and shoplifting. Students from the Westwood Language College for Girls and a gang known locally as Get Money Gangsterz have been blamed for a series of muggings.
The order will be in force for six months - during a six-week trial more than 80 teenagers were told to leave the area.
Pc Chris Duffee, from South Norwood Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "The school fights usually involve pupils from Year 9 to 11 from Harris Academy and St Joseph's College. It's school rivalry, nothing more than that.
"They've had large fights in the high street. It's only a certain few who cause trouble. Most are well-behaved."
In one incident outside St Joseph's, in Beulah Hill, on 18 March a 14-year-old boy suffered serious head injuries after being hit with a metal crutch. A 16-year-old from Harris Academy was arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault.
On the same day, a gang of girls from Westwood, in Upper Norwood, beat up a Harris Academy pupil in South Norwood High Street.
Pc Duffee said: "Up to 30 girls from Westwood attacked a Harris Academy boy of about 14 or 15. He was okay but did not want to do anything about it because he was embarrassed. The GMG gang are known for anti-social behaviour. The main players have been forced out of the area."
Harris Academy is one of six schools in south London sponsored by Lord Harris, the carpet tycoon. Daniel Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, to which it belongs, denied there was a "feud" between the school and St Joseph's.
He said the dispersal order was implemented to stop children from several schools causing a nuisance outside St Joseph's as they take buses home. "It's a terminus for kids from all over Croydon," he said. "It creates an atmosphere."
Dr Moynihan said there had been a "scuffle" between two boys from Harris Academy and St Joseph's but neither sustained serious injuries.
No one at St Joseph's or Westwood Language College was available to comment.
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Things have definitely got worse. The new management at Harris Academy seem to care more about making themselves look good than the well being of their students. In the days of Stanley Tech the senior teachers would patrol the High Street without fail. Now they hide away and skulk.
- Geoff, South Norwood
