PUPILS have been coming to terms with the devastation caused by drink and drug-fuelled vandals who destroyed a garden they helped create at their Bury school.

Staff at Lowercroft Primary School, in Ashington Drive, were shocked to find empty cans of alcoholic drinks and evidence of marijuana being taken inside the school’s hobbit hole, an outdoor classroom.

The vandals, who broke in over the weekend of May 9 and 10, also smashed a number of unique planters that pupils had created themselves in a project over the Easter holidays.

In the last few weeks, the school has also found obscene images and offensive language drawn on a climbing frame, a vegetable garden gate kicked in, and tyres stolen from a playground.

Headteacher Mrs Tessa Townsend said: “I was absolutely disgusted when I saw what had happened, and so upset for the children.

“The fact that this was children’s work that has been destroyed makes it so much worse.

“Everyone had worked really hard on this fantastic project and to see it destroyed a week later is just horrible.

“I can’t believe that people would do that. The fact that someone would trash something made by children and paid for by parents makes no sense to me.”

Since the incident, the school have fitted new locks and alarms to stop intruders entering the school grounds and have replaced some of the smashed plants.

However, the floor of the hobbit hole will have to be sanded down and thoroughly cleaned before children can use it again.

Pupils had made the planters themselves as part of a recycling challenge, in which they were asked to use unusual household items – such as tea pots, bicycle helmets, and even a pair of jeans.

Mrs Townsend added: “We have repaired and replaced everything that we can so far.

“It’s not the same now though because it’s not the children’s work there.

“They put so much effort into creating the planters and for them to be destroyed in such a mindless way is just awful.”

Anyone who witnesses any criminal or suspicious behaviour at the school is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.