FOR headteacher Tony Hopkins, it's a last throw of the dice in the fight against vandalism.

His school, Monnow Junior in Newport, already has a burglar alarm installed.

Police keep an eye on the school, as do parents, and Newport council's rangers patrol it regularly out of hours.

Yet still the attacks continue - sporadic, frustrating...and costly.

The cost of the extra security has been met by the LEA - although the burglar alarm is rented and paid for out of the school budget.

Despite the precautions the insurance premium paid for by the school has increased to £1,000.

Now Monnow staff - and pupils' parents - hope CCTV will provide the answer.

Mr Hopkins estimates that more than £5,000 worth of damage was inflicted by vandals in 2001.

Repairs were paid for by the school's insurance company and the local education authority.

Mr Hopkins said: "We had three serious incidents where we had a lot of damage. Those included flooding and having our windows put in. We also had other minor incidents.

"Now we are in the process of putting in CCTV which will be monitored from the Civic Centre. We are having two cameras on vandal-proof towers.

"We also have our own burglar alarm and in the last 12 months we have installed our own security system with internal cameras.

"We are also using the Newport Rangers to patrol the school premises out of hours as well as the police.

"When the CCTV cameras are in we should be well protected."

The system has worked elsewhere. Newport's Eveswell Primary School has seen incidents of vandalism drop dramatically since CCTV was installed.

Acting headteacher Catherine Barnett said the system, coupled with other measures, was very effective.

She said: "We have CCTV and the school is alarmed and doors are locked as well as other measures. But the CCTV has made a huge difference. Before we had it there were lots of problems with vandals but now we don't seem to have any. It's such a huge improvement." David Griffiths, Newport's chief education officer, admitted vandalism is a significant problem in schools and tends to be concentrated in certain areas.

Newport council is near to completing the first phase of a £500,000 scheme to install CCTV in 20 other schools.

Urban areas suffer the most but schools in relatively rural areas do not escape vandalism.John Howells, divisional head of development in Blaenau Gwent's education department, said attacks on schools in his area cost £100,000 a year to repair.

But despite the high cost, he believesschools there will not follow the Abersychan school which introduced guards and dogs.

He told the Argus: "In Blaenau Gwent I don't think we have a problem serious enough to warrant security guards."

In Caerphilly incidents of vandalism are far fewer - about £10,000 worth of damage is known to have been caused in the past six years.

Nevertheless Caerphilly council has surveyed security measures in all its schools and introduced a rolling programme installing alarms, door entry controls and fencing.

The community also plays a vital role, reporting concerns through the School Watch Scheme hotline on 01443 863430.

Beefing up Caerphilly schools' security has cost £700,000 in the last six years, with £100,000 spent last year alone.

In addition to this money, six schools have installed CCTV using their own resources and one other school has also employed a security firm to guard the premises.

A spokesman for the authority said: "It is a mindless minority who vandalise school buildings and the work of headteachers, teachers, pupils and the community through our School Watch Scheme has been instrumental in making school sites more secure."

Monmouthshire council does not keep separate figures on vandalism and repairing damage must be paid for by the schools themselves.

But the authority does insure schools against fire.