07 July 2008
Teachers at Rhymney Comprehensive School have joined forces with the Rhymney Neighbourhood Policing Team and local Community Safety Wardens in a bid to prevent anti-social behaviour during the lunch break.
Residents in Pontlottyn have raised concerns that a minority of young people are causing anti-social behaviour along Merchant Street and surrounding areas during their lunch breaks.
This is now a Partnerships and Communities Together (PACT) priority for the Pontlottyn area.
For the last couple of weeks, officers from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team have been patrolling the area to remind pupils about the importance of road safety, as well as ensuring that pupils are not disturbing local residents.
Caerphilly Council's Community Safety Wardens have also been patrolling the area along with the Council's CCTV van.
Teachers have joined officers on their patrols to make sure that only the correct year groups are leaving the school grounds during lunchtime.
Years 9 to 13 are allowed out of the school during lunch, whilst years 7 and 8 have to remain within the school grounds, unless they have an authorised pass to leave.
They have also been making sure that pupils are not dropping litter in the area.
Rhymney Inspector Mark Smith, said: "This is a PACT priority for the area, which shows it's an issue local residents would like to see addressed. We are working with the school to make sure that pupils are not causing any unnecessary disturbance to local residents or dropping litter. We have also been reminding pupils about the importance of road safety to make sure they are not putting their lives, or the lives of passing motorists at risk. This latest clampdown will hopefully demonstrate to the minority of pupils that anti-social behaviour is not acceptable."
Rhymney Comprehensive School Head Teacher, Mr James, said: "I very much welcome the introduction of these high visibility patrols during the lunch period in the area surrounding our school. "Although only a small minority of our students choose to act in an anti-social manner during lunch time, this can unfortunately still have very negative implications for our neighbours, which is why we were so eager to participate fully in this initiative to help eliminate such behaviour."
Pontlottyn Councillor, Mrs Gaynor Oliver said: "These high visibility patrols, which are being undertaken by Gwent Police and Caerphilly Council's Community Safety Wardens, in partnership with the school, are an excellent idea.
"The safety of our local residents is our primary objective and by conducting these patrols, we are helping to ensure that this most certainly is the case for all concerned.
"Through working with the school, we are making sure that the youngsters do not put their lives at risk during the lunch period by acting anti socially and dangerously around the roads, whilst at the same time we are aiming to eliminate any disturbance which a very small minority of students may be causing to local residents."
If you would like to speak to the Rhymney Neighbourhood Policing Team about any local crime and disorder issues, please contact them on 01495 233961.
Please note this is a voicemail box. Please leave a message and an officer will return your call.
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