Appeal after Preston primary school targeted by vandals

Staff at Grange Primary school are becoming increasingly "disappointed" after the school was targeted by vandals in a spree of attacks this week, says headteacher Cheryl Taylor.

On Monday June 19, windows were broken at the school in Grange Avenue and fire services were forced to attend when a small fire was started on one of the football pitches.

Headteacher Cheryl Taylor said: "It is very disappointing that on two evenings this week groups of children and young people have trespassed on school grounds and caused damage to the building, including breaking windows and setting a fire on one of the pitches.

"We have an excellent relationship with the local community and often open the school up for community use.

"I'd like to urge everyone in the community to help keep the school in good condition and enable us to continue to provide a good education to our children."

In the latest incident which happened at around 7.15pm on June 20, a group of children climbed onto the roof and threw objects after the fire service were called out to help children who had become locked in the grounds.

A spokesman for the fire service said: "While we were attending the incident, around 20 children arrived and some climbed onto the roof.

"Some of them were throwing stones but we don't think they were directly aiming them at us.

"We eventually used ladders to help the children get out of the grounds."

Police were called to the school following the incident by fire services who were concerned about the behaviour of the children.

A police spokesman said: "Fire services called us out to reports of a group of children on the roof of a primary school who were throwing objects.

"By the time officers arrived at around 7.30pm the children had dispersed."

Investigations into the incidents are on-going.