It comes as a special review into the school found a high turnover of staff and a lack of teaching and leadership experience compounded COVID-related staff absences.

Documents released to the Canberra Liberals under freedom of information show Calwell High School had 10 full or partial lockdowns in term 1, compared to two in the entire year for 2021 and 2020.

On one day, a student threw bricks at a staff member and one student threatened another with a pocket knife.

In another incident, a student was agitated after they were caught vaping in the bathrooms and kicked a glass door so hard it shattered.

The police were called to the school on another occasion when a parent threatened staff members.

Emails from principal Megan Altenburg to Education Directorate officials expressed exasperation at dealing with aggressive parents.

"This is a situation that is getting into the totally hysterical and impossible to manage," she wrote on March 2.

"We are doing all that is possible."

The school leaders were asking for the directorate's help to put in place an emergency reboot plan from week eight of term 1.

Police were called to the school again on March 24 after an incident where a mob of 30 to 40 students ran through the school to watch a fight and refused to follow teacher instructions.

On the same day, a staff member was seriously injured when they stepped between a student who was attacking another student.

ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry was briefed about the serious incident on March 25 and the Education Directorate director-general Katy Haire was sent a formal brief two days later.

Ms Haire wrote to deputy director-general Jane Simmons on Sunday, March 27 expressing concern over the time it took for her to be notified about the incident.

"I agree that this is a very disturbing incident and that we both needed to know about it a lot sooner and I endorse your proposal to review processes tomorrow," Ms Haire wrote.

"For something like this I would expect a phone call from [executive group manager school improvement] Mark [Huxley] on the day is [sic] occurs - noting that it appears he did not know about it until Friday in this instance."

Directorate officials sought information about whether the school could be temporarily shut days before WorkSafe inspectors visited and issued the prohibition notice.

Year 7 and 8 students were banned from the campus from April 4, returning on May 16 after the prohibition notice was lifted.

Opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the freedom of information documents demonstrated the extent of the issues over a long period of time at Calwell High School.

"The fact that this was not addressed sooner demonstrates an abject failure by the minister and the directorate to address and prevent violent incidents when they had ample warning to do so," Mr Hanson said.

Mr Hanson said the opposition called for a review into school management and bullying and violence last year, which was rejected by the ACT government.

A special purpose review into Calwell High School was announced on May 24.

The review panel found the school had lost its strategic focus and wellbeing issues took precedence over quality teaching and learning practices, which led to a rise in behaviour management issues.

It found a majority of staff, students and parents interviewed said they felt safe at the school and felt the public image of the school did not match their experience.

It found level of staff absences were in line with other ACT public schools, but 70 per cent of the teaching and school leadership staff had been at the school for fewer than three years.

As well, 51 per cent of teachers had fewer than three years' experience in the ACT public school system and 33 per cent were new educators with less than three years' experience.

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The review recommended the school ensure teachers had consistent coaching and mentoring, including supporting improvements in behaviour management and teaching practices.

It also recommended the school implement the positive behaviour for learning strategy and promote a student voice.

The review said the directorate's education support office should provide resources to help implement the program of change and recruit experienced staff.

A directorate spokesperson said the Safe@School taskforce announced last week would review and improve on safety processes in public schools.

"Nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of students and staff and this remains a key priority across all ACT public schools."

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