Anti-spray success

A CRANBOURNE primary school has tagged a Casey graffiti awareness program a success.
Courtenay Gardens Primary School’s Grade 5 students participated in the City of Casey’s Graffiti Awareness Education School Program during term one.
The program has been running for the past six years and has been delivered to more than 50,000 students in Grade 5 and Year 8.
The interactive program involves an actor and facilitator going out to schools to perform a role play that encourages the students to think about the impact graffiti has on them and the community. Courtenay Gardens Primary School’s Grade 5 coordinator Donna Lord said the students enjoyed the program because they could participate in the plays.
“The play had a touch of humour and delivered the message to them at their level,” she said.
Ms Lord said the school ran the program as a yearly event.
As part of the program, Casey is running a Youth Against Graffiti Challenge competition to all Year 8 students.
The competition has three categories that include designing a logo using the City of Casey graffiti slogan You’ll Pay if You Spray, creating a comic strip using information from the program and writing a short story or poem based on how graffiti affects the community.
The winners will be announced during community safety month in October.
Students will receive the competition entry forms once they have completed the program.
The Graffiti Awareness Education School Program is part of the City of Casey’s Graffiti Management Program and is delivered by the council’s contractor Warner Group.