A SCHOOL for autistic children was ransacked by vandals, resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Yobs broke into the Arches unit at Mersey Drive Primary School in Whitefield and went on a wrecking spree.

In a catalogue of damage on December 27, the gang:

l Smashed windows with a fire extinguisher

l Sprayed graffiti on walls and windows

l Daubed paint over soft play equipment

l Wrecked pupils' work

l Left taps running and flooded the classroom

l Scattered the floor with sand and glass

l Wrote offensive graffiti about the children

Staff who work at the unit, which is part of the main primary school, gave up their holidays to work around the clock cleaning up the mess in time for when pupils returned to lessons on Thursday.

They couldn't bear to let the children, who all have autism and communication difficulties, see their classroom destroyed and have tried to make the room look as normal as possible.

Teacher-in-charge at the Arches, Donna Rankine, said: "I was devastated and extremely upset to think that the hard work and progress our children make here had been damaged. I am angry that anyone can disrupt that progress and, in a way, the children have been violated.

"We have a very happy classroom and happy children, and it feels tainted by what the vandals have done. It was very important to get the room back to normal as children with autism don't like change. I am amazed the cleaners have managed to do it in such a short space of time."

One of the first teachers to see the damage was Anne Botham, who was shocked to see the devastation.

She said: "You couldn't see the floor for sand and glass. The furniture was all turned over, the floor was flooded and the window blinds full of graffiti. There was paint all over the classroom and they had spray painted offensive things about the children in the toilets. I was absolutely devastated. I was really shocked to see it like that and I just thought of the children and their work."

Both Miss Botham and Ms Rankine paid tribute to the school caretaker Kath Isherwood and her cleaning staff for rectifying the damage so quickly.

Mrs Isherwood had initially been called out on Christmas Eve after vandals smashed a window at the Music Centre, also on the school site.

After the latest damage, she and three cleaners enrolled the help of their partners and families to scrub the place clean and board up the smashed windows.

They worked right up to Wednesday with the exception of New Year's Day, to prepare the classroom for normal lessons.

Chairman of Governors, Mrs Ann Audin said: "I am absolutely devastated that people could do anything like this. I reiterate our grateful thanks for the hard work the caretaker and cleaning staff have done to get the place back to rights for the children. I could ask the people responsible how they would feel if it was their brothers and sisters affected but they don't seem to have any conscience. It is just mindless vandalism."

DC Dave Thorpe added: "There was a considerable amount of damage done. They smashed quite a few windows and even used fire extinguishers to break some of them. They also used spray paint on property and turned on the taps to cause damage. This was just blatant vandalism."

Whitefield CID are appealing for information in relation to the break-in and can be contacted on 0161 856 8248. Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.