ILLAWONG Public School was forced to install a security fence to halt a growing number of thefts, acts of vandalism and malicious damage of school property.
The school is one of 570 public schools in NSW that have installed security fences since 1995.
The assistant principal at Illawong Public, Ms Boniciolli, said the decision was made after ``an increasing number of incidents''.
``We had bricks thrown at windows, classrooms trashed and the hall broken into,'' she said. ``These sort of things were happening on a weekly basis.''
``We had to spend a substantial amount of money removing graffiti and repairing property.
``My own classroom was broken into and all sorts of things that were damaged and couldn't be replaced.''
Ms Boniciolli said there had not been an incident since the fence was installed seven weeks ago.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Training said statistics showed that installing a security fence made schools safer.
``Data obtained from a random sample of schools across the state showed on average a 75 per cent drop in vandalism and 68 per cent drop in break-and-enters in the first year after a security fence was installed,'' the spokeswoman said.
She said that more than $1.6 million had been allocated for the provision of security fences in Sydney in this financial year.
The spokeswoman said residents could report suspicious activities in or around schools to the safety and security sirectorate hotline on 1300880021 or to the police.