UPDATED 2.58pm The father of Stephen Dudley has levelled a barrage of criticisms against the school after his son died in their care.

LISTEN ABOVE: NZ Herald court reporter Rob Kidd was in court today and talks to Larry Williams

The coroner's inquest into the death of the 15-year-old high-school student entered its third day at Auckland District Court today having already heard from several witnesses who saw the fight which resulted in the victim being knocked to the ground.

Teammates described seeing Stephen’s neck pulsing and him foaming at the mouth before he was rushed to hospital where he eventually died.

The name of the school the boys attended is suppressed.

His father Brent talked in glowing terms about the boy who he described as “the head of the family” despite his age.

In a statement he read he highlighted his displeasure at being “fobbed off” by the school but the tirade became more impassioned when Coroner Gordon Matenga asked him whether there was anything he wanted to add.

“We had just lost our son when he was in your care and I think you could’ve put a bit more bloody effort into it. Can you see how much of an impact this has had on our lives?” Mr Dudley said in a raised voice.

“You didn’t come up to bloody standard as far as we’re concerned.”

He accepted the people the school sent to speak to the Dudley family did a good job but they were often not the people they wanted to speak to.

“I wanted to communicate with the board of trustees and the man at the helm after the fact, and we felt you basically said you would co-operate with the police and that’s all you were obligated to do,” Mr Dudley said.

He said it was especially devastating because of how much Stephen had loved the school.

“So, gutted,” he told the court.

Stephen had been tossing up between whether to focus on basketball or rugby in his senior years at school.

“It was me that persuaded him there was more of a future in rugby. I’ve found that hard to deal with. After being a rugby supporter all my life, I can no longer watch it,” Mr Dudley said.

The principal of the high school apologised to the couple in court this afternoon and said he had no idea there was any animosity over what had happened.

He understood a meeting he was scheduled to have with the Dudleys had been cancelled by them, but they had denied that was the case.

“If I’m wrong I’m really really sorry,” he said.

There were also unanswered questions over why police dropped manslaughter charges originally laid against the two teenage defendants.

Mona Dudley was also called as a witness this afternoon and described the feeling of being “ambushed” when she and her husband were told by the prosecution of their decision.

She said it was the result of a report commissioned by defence lawyers which had seen a medical expert pin Stephen’s death on an underlying cardiac problem related to the family medical history.

But she and her husband believed information had been misinterpreted.

“Right up until the day he died he was fit, healthy and very physically active. He simply couldn’t have achieved the things he did had he been sick,” Mr Dudley said.

The officer in charge of the police case will give evidence this afternoon.

The inquest is scheduled to conclude on Friday.