RAMPAGING thugs have led a Radcliffe headteacher to dub her own school "Fort Apache".
The teenage vandals are using Radcliffe County Infants' School for sex, drugs and boozing, leaving chaos in their wake.
"It is very dispiriting and depressing," said headteacher Mrs Chris Heald of the incidents that are happening on a weekly - and sometimes nightly - basis.
Used condoms are discarded around the Coronation Street school, syringes have been found, and excrement is left for the caretaker to clean up.
Logs are used as battering rams on doors, drainage pipes are smashed, and graffiti are daubed on walls.
The damage costs the school about £5,000 each year - money that could have been used for books and equipment.
"We had special meshed security plastic windows, but they were melted, and even the locks we used on the gates were stolen," said Mrs Heald.
The school applied for a grant to get security fencing and CCTV cameras but was turned down on account of the cost.
Mrs Heald said: "These teenagers drink their alcohol and then delight in smashing the bottles all over the playground, car park and field."
Recently, a four-year-old pupil had to be taken to hospital for stitches after falling and cutting himself on a smashed bottle lying in the grass.
And the vandals are also putting their own lives in danger by using the school roof as a skate park!
Mrs Heald said: "There is a 14ft drop so they could end up paralysed or even worse if they fell. Apart from the damage they could do themselves they could damage the fabric of the building.
"The school roof is fragile and it looks like the waterproofing has been torn because we have had a number of leaks since Easter."
She added: "I don't know what the solution is. They can't do sex and alcohol and drugs at youth clubs so they come here instead. Their parents must know they are out on the rampage, but they don't seem to have any responsibility. It's a negative mentality I just don't understand."
The principal administration officer for Bury education buildings, Mr David Barber, said that vandalism of schools was a borough-wide problem but it was particularly bad in the Radcliffe area at the moment.
He said: "We are looking at security measures but funds are limited. The problem is that when the schools were designed vandalism was not an issue, and the buildings are accessible to vandals."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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