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Auckland secondary school student faces criminal charges for taking prank too far

Usually the boys stick to 'streaking' through the neighbouring girls' school.
Westlake Boys High School student takes Prank Week too far, damages car

A student from an Auckland secondary school is said to have caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to a vehicle after playing a prank at school that went too far.

The Westlake Boys High School student is now being dealt with by police and faces a possibility of capping his school career with a criminal record.

He had reportedly been celebrating Prank Week, a tradition followed by Year 13 students at a number of high schools in New Zealand to mark the end of their time at high school.

The student allegedly broke into a car that was parked on the school grounds and damaged it by pouring a solvent or paint through its interior. It’s said the vehicle was a security vehicle.

Westlake Boys High School principal David Ferguson confirmed today that “there was an incident with a car involving one of our boys, not a group. The police are dealing with it so we can’t comment any further”.

Students also reportedly glued doors shut in school buildings, causing significant cost to the school to replace door knobs and repair damage.

A police spokesperson told Now To Love that police received a report last week “relating to wilful damage of school property as well as a vehicle being vandalised on school grounds”.

“The matter is currently being followed up by Waitemata East Police,” he said.

“One person has been spoken to as part of our enquiries, which are still ongoing at this time.”

It’s not the first time students have taken things too far in Prank Week.

In 2017 a Hamilton Boys’ High School student was injured when he was hit by a Waikato Diocesan School student on a dirtbike. She rode topless through the school during the students’ lunch break.

In 2015 an IT whiz from Rangitoto College created a bogus news report, announcing the school would be closed for two days due to Cyclone Pam.

The report went viral and about 250 students failed to turn up to class.

Westlake Boys High School students have traditionally streaked through their neighbouring school, Westlake Girls High School, during Prank Week. However, this year a police presence at the girls school, which is believed to have been instigated by the boys school, successfully deterred the boys.

A spokesperson from Westlake Girls High School said, “We believe the police presence was at the instigation of the Boys School – it wasn’t something we organised. We had teachers stationed around the school perimeter, as we do every year when the boys are released and try to run across the school.

“This year our Year 13 cohort was particularly well behaved and they had a really lovely end of school, with a student-led assembly, shirt-signing, running through the hockey field sprinklers etc. I think the worst thing the girls did last week was put up a For Sale sign.”

At Rangitoto College a Year 13 student with an impeccable school record was suspended during last week’s Prank Week for her involvement in filling the school fountain with fabric dye.

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