GWENT schools spent more than £200,000 repairing vandalism and arson damage over the past two years.
Figures obtained from the councils in Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen under the Freedom of Information Act show that between January 2009 and December 2010, a total of 926 incidents of vandalism and arson, costing more than £203,784.02.
Caerphilly Council does not keep records of incidents of vandalism and arson committed at schools in its area.
Newport council’s schools were the worst hit with a total of 481 incidents between January and December 2009, costing £92,891.04 to repair.
The number of incidents fell to 149 between January and December 2010 with a repair bill totalling £22,727.
In 2009, Hartridge Comprehensive School had the most damage with a total of 45 incidents, costing £5,932 to repair, but Caerleon Comprehensive School has the highest repair bill of £11,539.83 for 11 incidents.
In 2010, Duffryn High School had the most reports with 22 incidents, which cost £2,127.84 to repair and was also the highest repair bill for the year.
In Blaenau Gwent, there were a total of 127 incidents costing £31,523.23 in 2009, but while the number of reports fell to 87 in 2010 the repair bill rose to £46,372.98.
Tredegar Comprehensive School had the most reported incidents in 2009 with 15, which cost £2,585.17 to repair, but Abertillery Comprehensive School had the highest repair bill of £3,846.02 for its 12 incidents.
In 2010, Abertillery Comprehensive had both the highest bill and number of incidents with 14 costing £17,101.75 to fix.
Torfaen’s 2009 repair bill reached £10,266.61 for a total of eight incidents. The number of incidents fell to seven in 2010, but repair costings were only available for one incident at Coed Eva Primary which cost £1,958.26. George Street Primary School was the worst hit in 2009 with three incidents costing a total of £4,969,86.
Seven schools each had one incident in 2010.
Costings for repairs to schools in Monmouthshire were not available, but the number of incidents fell from 39 in 2009 to 30 in 2010. The worst hit school was Overmonnow Primary in 2009 with 13 incidents and in 2010 Llantilio Pertholey Primary School and Raglan VC Junior and Infants School both suffered 10 incidents.
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