Vandals trash playground at kindy

Camberley Kindergarten's head teacher Heather Simmons surrounded by the evidence of the weekend's vandalism. Photo / Duncan Brown

A broken shade sail, vandalised equipment and "a strong smell of urine" greeted teachers at Camberley Kindergarten yesterday after its playground was vandalised over the weekend.

Head teacher Heather Simmons said the vandalism was soul-destroying as they had worked very hard to create a beautiful environment at Camberley.

Part of this was fundraising with the local community for a new whare which had just been reopened earlier this year.

When teachers arrived at the kindergarten yesterday the whare's windows had been smashed and broken glass was strewn over a path and in the bark where children run around during the day.

They had cleared most of the glass before the children arrived but were still finding bits at the end of the school day.

"We're a part of [the community] so to have it absolutely trashed, it really hurts," said Ms Simmons.

Heretaunga Kindergarten Association general manager Bronwen Bertram said this was not an isolated incident.

Ms Bertram said vandalism among their 16 kindergartens seemed to be on the increase, though it tended to occur in one-off incidents.

Camberley had been vandalised before, but hadn't reached the level of this incident. Another kindergarten, Irongate in Flaxmere, was targeted so much that security cameras were installed.

"It's devastating because so much emphasis has gone into building a beautiful playground environment for the children," said Ms Bertram. "It's a devastating situation to walk into on a Monday morning."

As well as the whare damage, playground equipment had been overturned and water pump apparatus was broken.

A lot of equipment also had been graffitied.

Ms Bertram said: "You can imagine the language - it was predominantly a four-letter 'f' word".

At this stage the kindergarten said they were looking to replace a number of items, especially the shade sail as they went into summer.

But Ms Simmons said one of the saddest things was that the heads and limbs had been torn off some dolls, which was very distressing.

While this incident highlighted the bad things that were said about Camberley, Ms Simmons said it also showed another side of the suburb.

"We've received a phenomenal amount of support from Camberley School, and with people from the community calling in to help.

"Even in dire times it's so nice how the community support is coming through."

Ms Bertram said it would be a good idea if those who had done the vandalism "came and did the cleaning themselves - it's about learning to respect property".

She said the kindergarten would be asking neighbours to look out for any suspicious behaviour.

Police said they were investigating the incident and that it was not unusual for kindergartens and schools to be targeted by vandals.