A HEADTEACHER today spoke of her dismay after a suspected airgun attack on her school left 14 windows smashed and caused £2,000 of damage.

Elaine Grimshaw arrived at St Mary and St Joseph's RC Primary School, Blackburn, yesterday to discover the latest damage following a series of attacks.

She said: "It has not been a good start to the year.

"On Monday morning we found we had had a break-in and they had trashed a classroom although nothing was actually taken.

"Then on Wednesday the windows were shot at. This was particularly disturbing because of the nature of the damage.

"It could not have been a child that did that. I don't understand what is going through their minds that they could cause so much damage. It is just mindless.

"It is going to cost well over £2,000 to replace those windows.

"At the end of the day the money could come out of the maintenance money which stops us doing other things and affects the school budget and therefore the children in the long term."

In the last two years nearly all the windows at the Bennington Street school have been replaced with toughened double glazing but 14 will now need replacing again.

Mrs Grimshaw said £100,000 has been spent on improvements to the school in her four years as headteacher. A lot of this was on the windows and a substantial amount on a new state of the art ICT suite.

Recent damage at the school has included almost £3,000 of damage to an area of walling which was attacked with a sledge hammer in late August.

A shed used for storing toys for pupils has also been attacked causing damage to the door and roof.

Mrs Grimshaw said: "We employ a security guard at the school and that has improved things but it is not foolproof.

"I am going to dread coming in every morning. Maybe some residents saw something or know who is responsible and I would ask them to contact the police."

A police spokesman confirmed that officers were investigating an report of an incident involving a firearm.

Anyone with information can contact Blackburn police on 01254 51212.