Funding boost gets school's CCTV installed

St Sampson's School's CCTV cameras are installed and running. The PTA had the cameras installed to combat theft and vandalism to students' and school property. PTA chairman Vanda Slann said it was great news that the cameras were keeping an eye on the school. 'It gives the students, and the teachers, the confidence that somebody is keeping an eye on their property and hopefully reassures parents that as much as possible is being done to protect their children's property.' One of the cameras is pointed at the main entrance, another focuses on the bicycle park and a third monitors the area where scooters are parked. There have been problems with bike theft in the past and even sabotage of some of cycles parked at the school. Mrs Slann hoped that these would now be things of the past. The PTA raised the funds for the cameras themselves when the problems were getting out of hand. Special events such as the Search for Stars evening were organised and most of the money was raised. 'But a new system came to our attention which was colour and digital. To raise the money for the new system would have taken us another year,' said Mrs Slann. Cherry Godfrey Finance was approached and agreed to support the project. 'We could not have put it in place so quickly without them,' she said. 'We are just pleased that we now can give students and parents the reassurance that when the children are bringing their property to school, every possible step is taken to protect it.' Cherry Godfrey director Scott Carre said the company was happy to help such a worthwhile project. 'We were delighted to get involved. This project helps the security of the school. Anything to help the students to be in a secure environment can only be a good thing. 'We saw how hard the PTA worked in raising the funds towards the system. It is only fair that someone should come along and help them.' Education Council president Martin Ozanne said that the school was more prone to vandalism than others because it was so exposed to the public. 'There is public access on three sides. It is one of our sites we are very concerned about. 'We will be interested to see if the cameras will reduce vandalism. It will give us vital information as to what kind of system we will need to put in place when we build our new schools.'