Heartless vandals urinate and set fire to school's sensory garden

Heartless vandals have urinated and set fire to a school's sensory garden for vulnerable pupils.

St Rose of Lima Primary School teachers from left, Emma Laing, Nicola Miller and Lorraine Izzett in the sensory garden with the vandalised box. Picture: SWNS

Shocked teachers returned to the primary school on Monday to discover the sensory garden had been vandalised.

A toy box at the St Rose of Lima Primary School, Glasgow, was set on fire while the sick vandals urinated on items around the outdoor area of the school.

Primary five teacher, Emma Laing, explained that the sensory garden was built to help some of the school’s most vulnerable pupils.

The school has a roll of around 500 pupils, and the sensory garden provided a safe haven to some of them.

Emma said: “It is heartbreaking because it means the children might not be able to use the sensory garden when they come back to school today because there is still fire damage.

“The sensory garden area provided a kind of safe haven for the children who really struggle to access the main playground.

“We built the sensory garden last year with the support of McLaughlin and Harvey, and we have been trying to add further improvements to the playground.

“A lot of time and effort has been put in by the school, staff and parents as well as other agencies who have helped us out.”

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service tackled the blaze on Friday and Police Scotland is now investigating.

The school has been targeted by vandals on previous occasions.

And Emma has appealed to the local community to prevent further incidents from happening.

She added: “We need the community to be on board, they need to be aware that this is going on.

“This is affecting their children and we are trying to do everything we can to enhance the school and make the school better for kids.

“But there are people coming in and destroying it.”

Councillor Chris Cunningham, City Convener for Education, Skills and Early Years, said: “This is despicable and these mindless vandals should be ashamed of themselves.

“Parents and school staff have invested a lot of time and money into the sensory garden for the children to enjoy and this wanton act has destroyed the school’s efforts.”

Police Scotland confirmed that they are investigating the incident.

The spokeswoman said: “Police are investigating an incident of vandalism at a primary school in Mossvale Road, Glasgow, and enquiries are continuing.”

A spokesman for the fire service said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 8.56pm on Friday, August 10 to reports of a fire in the open in the Craigend area of Glasgow.

“Operations Control mobilised two fire engines to Mossvale Road, where firefighters extinguished a fire which had taken hold of a quantity of pallets.

“There were no casualties. Crews left the scene after ensuring the area had been made safe.”