5:20pm Thursday 19th November 2009
By Catherine Pye
PUPILS have been left devastated after yobs ruined the school garden they had spent a year creating.
Artwork, bird boxes and painted signs were stolen from the Enchanted Garden at Ashleigh Primary School in Ross Street, Darwen, and the padlocked wooden gate was ripped from its hinges and thrown onto the playground.
Headteacher Christine Henderson said that the 226 pupils at the school were ‘horrified’ at the attack.
She said: “They are really, really upset about this. It’s mindless.
“It’s such a shame that all their hard work over the last 12 months has been ruined.
“We don’t get a lot of vandalism, and this is what has shocked everybody more.
“Because the houses around here are quite far away, nobody has seen anything so we don’t know yet who is responsible.”
The garden, at the back of the school, was opened earlier in the year as part of the Government scheme Creative Partnerships.
It aims to help children develop skills by linking up with professionals such as artists, performers and scientists.
Artist Sean Creagh has been working with the children to create a montage of images and plans for the garden, as well as creating pottery gnomes, art installations, a performance area, a bog area, and places to plant trees and wild flowers.
Year 5 pupil Brandon Esler, nine, said: “We feel really, really angry about this.
“We spent all our time doing it and lots of money.”
Oscar Cosgrove, also nine, said: “We have all felt sad since we found out. We worked so hard to make it look nice and now it’s all gone.”
Teachers at the school discovered the attack on Monday morning and suspect that it occured during the weekend.
They hope to rebuild the garden as soon as possible with money from the school budget, but at the moment have no idea how much it will cost.
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