CALLOUS yobs have vandalised a thriving garden that youngsters at a Whitehill school have spent a year working hard to cultivate.
The garden, situated in the grounds of Woodlea Primary School, has been the source of enjoyment for pupils and staff of all ages, with each class working on their own specific patch, putting up fences, weeding and digging, planting flowers and plants, and laying chippings and soil. What was a deserted piece of land had been converted into a colourful and attractive garden.
But the green-fingered youngsters came back to school after their long summer break to find their previously flourishing garden in tatters.
With plants torn out of the ground and left lying around, bark chippings kicked about messily and parts of the fence broken, the children and staff at the school are utterly dismayed.
"We're all devastated," said Mrs Watters, a teacher at the school.
"The children are really broken - they're more hurt than angry. Walking out there and seeing the garden in such a mess after all the work they've put in is difficult."
Some of the youngsters have expressed their disappointment in a letter to The Herald:
"We, the year six children of Woodlea School, are utterly fed up with our school being ferociously vandalised.
"Our gardening club keeps the school in pristine condition and puts a lot of time and effort into keeping the school clean and environmentally friendly.
"Whoever they are, why do they think Woodlea is a hangout place and think that they can vandalise our school?"
The incident has knocked the morale of the pupils at the school and staff feel that after this disrespectful act, the children will not work on the garden with their previous zeal.
"We're going to have put it back together, but we'll really have to motivate the children, because I think they'll be quite reluctant after this," said Mrs Watters.
"It was so mindless - they just uprooted things and left it in a real mess."
Whitehill Police said they had not been informed of the incident.