Students' challenging behaviour is a persisting problem in some primary schools. In South African primary schools, however, students' challenging behaviour is mainly understood as disruptive classroom behaviour. To establish how primary schools experience this phenomenon, interviews were held with twenty-one participants, purposively selected from three primary schools, to provide qualitative data. Opposing prior understandings, thematic analysis showed that students' challenging behaviour in primary schools is experienced through acts of violence, vandalism, and bullying. Social cognitive theory revealed how students growing up in hostile environments emulate and reproduce hostility. Education departments should consider these experiences to appraise and revise disciplinary policies to promote school safety, and more effective learning in the classroom.