Contraband discovery shuts down inner-city high school formal

Students from Kelvin Grove State College were sent home from senior formal celebrations early after a group of boys were discovered with contraband.

The event, held at City Hall on Friday, October 9, ended 20 minutes earlier than intended as students were chaperoned out of the iconic inner-city building, an Education Department spokesperson said.

The department said the discovery included multiple miniature bottles of alcohol in bathrooms at the venue.

“All students were supervised until pick up time,” a spokesperson said. “This was the decision of the venue in line with licensing laws.”

Kelvin Grove parents contacted by this masthead, including one who had a child at the event, claimed cocaine was discovered, but the department denied these allegations.

Police had no record of the incident, including any reports to local officers or within the Queensland Police system.

A group of boys linked to the discovery were disciplined by the school, which the Education Department said fell under the school’s code of conduct.

It could not provide details of the punishment in the interests of the students’ privacy.

Under Kelvin Grove State College’s student code of conduct, the school has the power to remove alcohol, drugs, and tobacco or vapes from students found to have them on school property or settings used by the school.

The school categorises poor behaviour into a three-tiered system, with the most disruptive incidents demanding responses from the school ranging from detention to enrolment cancellations and reporting to the police.

In 2025, the school recorded three exclusions and two enrolment cancellations. This was down 50 per cent from the previous year.

The year 12 formal was scheduled as an all-day event for the school’s more than 400 year 12 students who began arriving from Friday evening at the venue.

Parents and family members were generally excluded from the students-only celebratory evening, although students could bring a date.

Kelvin Grove State College enrols more than 3600 students from prep through year 12, with a catchment spanning from Auchenflower and Bardon to Herston and Newmarket.

The school offers competitive programs for co-curricular excellence programs, including music, performing arts, and sport.

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