TWO Chorley schools have been counting the cost of vandalism on their sites over the holidays.

Bosses at Highfield Primary School and Mayfield Special School have been busy over the summer break after incidents of damage at their school.

Highfield Primary School posted a video of some youths breaking some windows at their Wright Street site on August 19 and headteacher Andrew Proctor said it was the third or fourth incident during the summer.

He said: “We have had windows smashed like this on three occasions and then just before we finished for summer our Forest School was trashed.

“We have CCTV which shows it happened at 604pm and there were two other windows broken in the first two weeks of the holidays.

“We have CCTV installed last summer because of vandalism particularly to the Forest School which happened on a number of occasions over the last three years.

“The cost this summer would be about £500 which comes out of our school budget which is already stretched with rising costs.

“It does impact on the children as we have less to spend on essentials.”

Elsewhere on Bank Holiday Monday, staff at Mayfield Special School had to clear up damage when intruders left a mess including kitchen cupboards being pulled off and graffiti on the doors.

On the school’s Facebook page, school bosses said it will cost £1,000 to repair the damage and staff will be trying to return it to a ‘usable state’.

In a statement on Facebook they said: “

“Our school has suffered many times over the years in this way, and each occurrence has a real and significant impact on our wonderful pupils and staff, as it makes them feel slightly less safe in what should be a happy, caring and welcoming environment.

Bosses also praised the local police for being ‘incredibly supportive and professional’.

PC Rik Nicol said: “Officers attended a report of a burglary after two youths had been disturbed in the act of damaging a classroom.

“One of the youths was pursued and detained with the assistance of the staff member.

“The scene discovered at the school was abhorrent.

“One of the classrooms had been littered with food, cleaning materials and cruel graffiti, causing significant loss, hurt and inconvenience to the school.

“Fortunately, the quick intervention of the attending headteacher, Mrs Kay, prevented much further loss from occurring.

“Both youths have been identified and will be duly processed. The school will be firmly involved in the resolution of this crime.

“This has been deeply upsetting for the school family, its staff, students and undoubtedly the surrounding community.

“We encourage parents to discuss the impact of such behaviour with their children during school holidays.

“If anyone witnesses such damage being caused to schools in our community, please report immediately using the 999 service.”

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has managed to raise £2,000 for the school.

The appeal was launched by childcare student Megan Preston as her brother visited the school to see about joining and she was outraged by the scenes.