Police in Fife are hunting vandals who struck at Benarty Primary School causing £40,000 worth of damage.
The main school building in Lochgelly has suffered extensive damage to the roof after a number of incidents of vandalism in recent days.
And the problem has become so bad that local officers have now made a public appeal in a bid to catch the culprits.
Ongoing problems
One local resident said the problem had been going on “a number of weeks”.
They added: “Groups of youths are regularly seen on the roof of the school in the evenings jumping and sliding down it.
“The damage being inflicted is appalling and sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt or worse unless a stop is put to it.”
Louise Playford, Fife Council’s school estate service manager, said: “It’s very disappointing that Benarty Primary School has been targeted in this way.
“There has been significant damage caused to the roof of the school in recent days.
School roof damaged
“We have a team at the school repairing the damage, which we estimate will cost between £30,000 and £40,000 to fix.
“I’m saddened that this has happened as the time and money spent fixing the roof could have been put to better use.”
However, despite the damage the school is scheduled to reopen as planned in August for the start of the new school year.
“The school will be open as normal for the start of the new term,” she added.
“The incident is being investigated by the police and we’d encourage anyone with any information to get in touch with them by calling 101.”
Police appeal
Because of the extent of the vandalism, officers are now appealing to the public to help catch the vandals.
Sergeant Paul Cochrane said: “We are investigating damage caused to the roof of Benarty Primary School on Lochleven Road in Lochgelly.
“The incident happened round 5.40pm on Thursday, July 22.
“Anyone with information about the incident can call 101, quoting incident 0630 of 26 July.
“Or they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”