SWANSCOMBE: Craylands pupils distraught at school garden attack (From News Shopper)

SWANSCOMBE: Craylands pupils distraught at school garden attack

9:30am Sunday 17th January 2010 in

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A PRIMARY school is appealing for donations after vandals destroyed a wildlife garden its pupils had spent years developing.

Thugs broke into the garden at The Craylands School in Craylands Lane, Swanscombe, earlier this month and transformed it from a scenic green space into a scene of destruction.

They tipped over a shed and ripped off its doors, smashed tables and chairs, ripped up plants and smeared egg on the floor of an outdoor classroom in a rampage that caused around £1,000 of damage.

Pupils, staff and people living near the school had developed the garden over the past three years, and now they are having to start again they are asking for donations to help them.

Pupil Lewis Stephens, aged eight, said: “I was very upset when I found out what had happened to the wildlife area.”

Fellow pupil seven-year-old Cameron Hoadley added: “I was really angry. I would like to see the people who did this arrested and put behind bars.”

Officers from Kent police have visited the garden to see the damage and an investigation has been launched.

The school’s parent support adviser Sharon Jeffrey, who oversees the development of the wildlife area, says around £3,000 worth of material had gone into creating it.

She said: “Because of this mindless vandalism we are going to have to start again, so we would welcome donations of things like bird feeders and plants.”

There are around 210 pupils at the school, and all of them have helped to look after the wildlife area and use it for outdoor lessons.

Mrs Jeffrey says she did not show the younger children the damage to the garden for fear they would be too upset, but the older children who saw it were distraught.

Headteacher Christine Allsop says the whole experience has been demoralising for staff and pupils.

She said: “It is so demoralising to have spent so much time building up the wildlife area only for it to then be wiped out in a matter of minutes.

“Whoever did this had caused so much hurt to the children and teachers here, and the community around the school.”

To help the school re-build the wildlife area, call 01322 388230 or email admin@craylands.kent.sch.uk