Liam Arnold-Levy was practising for his bar mitzvah when he decided to wear a kippah to school to show that he was proud of his Jewish heritage.
But within the first hour of walking into his year seven class at Brighton Secondary College he says “it was like target practice”.
Fellow students tore the kippah from his head and threw it in the bin.
His notebook was graffitied with the Star of David and his locker defaced with the words “Heil Hitler”.
He had coins thrown of him and was called names including “dirty Jew” and “vermin”.
“The harassment happened every day. It was humiliating,” he told the Federal Court in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Feeling frightened and distraught, Mr Arnold-Levy, now aged 21, complained several times to the school’s administration office.
“They wrote down what I told them and said they’d give it to the principal. Nothing ever happened,” he said.
“I can’t explain the emotion I felt when I’d gone to ask for help from the school, to make the environment better for me, and no difference was made.”
Mr Arnold-Levy is one of five former students suing Brighton Secondary College, alleging they were subjected to years of anti-Semitic bullying, discrimination and negligence.
The State of Victoria is also being sued as the authority in control of the school. Principal Richard Minack and teachers Paul Varney and Demi Flessa are also named in the suit.
All defendants have denied the allegations brought against them.
Read the article by Emily Woods in The Canberra Times and on Crikey.