UK COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL New Security Check After Vandals Raid Classroom (from This Is Lancashire)

New security check after vandals raid classroom

A school is having to re-think costly security measures after thieves vandalised a classroom and stole money the youngsters had raised for a hospice.

Mrs Jillienne Scholes, headteacher of St Peter's CE School in Bury, says Monday night's incident "has made us feel sick inside".

Raiders forced their way into the Whitefield Road school, and ripped a projector from a wall which they stole along with two computers.

They also made off with a wall safe containing £300 which the pupils had raised for Manchester's Francis House Children's Hospice.

The classroom in which the safe was contained was damaged and parts of the school also sustained disruption to its electricity supply. This forced the postponement of the Christmas fairy lights switch-on in the school hall.

Mrs Scholes said: "The computers and projector are together probably worth £3,000. When the thieves stole the safe from the classroom, they also ripped the whiteboard off the wall and caused the wires to be exposed. They also emptied drawers out and messed everything up.

"The electricity to that classroom was affected and had a knock-on effect. That meant that on Tuesday morning we'd to send 72 of our 270 pupils home for the day. But they were able to return the day after."

Staff and children are particularly upset that the £300 raised for the hospice was stolen. "We are an outstanding school in terms of raising money for charity. We support Francis House Hospice every year," continued the headteacher.

"We try to get nice things here for the pupils and then they have to see what somebody has done to their school.

"It's just so awful, disheartening and hurtful. We've had to spend a lot of money on security and it's something we'll have to look at again. But we just don't have any more money to spend on extra security."

The school suffered a similar break-in July. Police are investigating the latest incident.

8:30am Saturday 8th December 2007