St Mary?s School vandalised

A TRAIL of damage and a pool full of rubbish greeted staff arriving at St Mary's School in Carterton after the weekend.
The school's wireless internet receiver, worth hundreds of dollars, was damaged in the attack, meaning that when technical staff arrived at the school to set up the network as part of refurbishments they discovered the internet wasn't working.
When they investigated they discovered the receiver had been badly damaged and found parts of it around the school.
Felt-tip writing on the walls of the school has since been removed but staff have had more difficulty removing the messages off the wooden playground equipment and on the walls of the changing sheds by the school pool.
The pool had a window smashed and the vandals removed dials off the pool filter, as well as throwing in bottles, chemicals and testing strips.
It is unknown whether the chemical bottles were full at the time, but the packaging included chlorine, algae killer and chlorine neutraliser.
The students stopped using the pool two weeks ago and principal John Dorman says if they were still using the pool the children wouldn't be allowed to swim in it, as they have no idea of the condition of the water.
A pupil from South End School in Carterton had his name repeatedly placed over the school grounds, including some messages of a lewd nature, although badly spelt.
"It's the same message, basically fingering some guy from South End (School) who was away at a camp at the time," Mr Dorman said.
He said staff suspect the damage was done between Saturday night and 2.30pm Sunday.
Mr Dorman said children were seen at the school on Sunday, which is common as they like to use the playground.