Weeroona College Bendigo principal Leanne Preece said despite high profile cases of young people egging each other on to share explicit photographs of unsuspecting girls online, the issue was largely under control in Bendigo.

“The really good thing we’re finding now is that young people are speaking up more and more, they know their rights and they’re challenging their peers not to make the wrong decision,” she said.

Parents Victoria immediate past president Elaine Crowle, whose children all attended school in Bendigo, labelled the uploading of pornographic images of girls without their permission “sick” and warned of its far reaching consequences, including for the girls’ mental health.

“I’d imagine most girls would be just horrendously embarrassed to think their image is appearing without their consent,” she said.

“It’s not just sending a nude photo to your boyfriend, it’s when that photo goes to his friends and their friends and goes out of the state, out of the country, that’s the potential and I don’t think kids are aware of how far images can go.”

But Ms Preece said the education programs her school ran on sexting had had “a big impact”.

“I wouldn’t say we actually have a huge problem with that now, we’ve done a lot of work educating our young people here at Weerona College Bendigo, we run cyber safety lessons for the kids for all the year levels,” she said.

Similarly, Catholic College Bendigo deputy principal Michael Chalkley said sexting was not a major issue at the school.

“We deal with the odd case here and there but I wouldn’t say it’s a huge issue,” he said.

“We have it built in to our personal development across years 7, 8, 9 and 10.”

Ms Crowle agreed education was key, saying boys who disseminated the images needed to be made aware of the consequences of their actions.

“How would they like it if it was their girlfriend or their sister, or their mother even, whose images were being transmitted?” she said.

“I think it’s done without thought of consequence and I think the young men need to really be shown that there are serious consequences for doing these acts.”