City school shuts down Facebook 'secrets' site

"Secrets" sites have spread to the city's secondary schools, raising concern among educators and pupils about the effect of usually private chatter becoming public knowledge.

"The whole school has been talking about it since it went viral," said Mondi Ho, a Year 13 student at South Island School, where SIS Secrets garnered more than 500 likes before being shut down yesterday.

"Some of the secrets were funny but many are just plain mean."

The "secrets" range from typical high school in-jokes and teasing to complaints about teachers and banter usually confined to classrooms and school buses.

Other posts take aim at teachers. "I remember the first time [the teacher] called me 'babe'… I was so scared," one post read.

Graham Silverthorne, principal of the English Schools Foundation school, said the site seemed like "generally harmless internet chatter" but was abused by a small number of students.