Vehicle damage, graffiti and human waste are just some of the findings for the Longton primary school caretaker as he arrives on duty at 7am.
Kenneth Wooldridge is tasked with the daunting job of clearing the trail of destruction left by trespassers at Gladstone Primary Academy before the students arrive.
The school has suffered 12 months of continuous vandalism attacks; the latest target of the gang’s wrecking spree was severe damage to a large sculpture of a giant on the school’s playground.
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The 65-year-old from Bucknall said: “We leave it on a Friday, then the following Monday morning, we’re coming into a nightmare.”
Since Easter 2022, the incidents have racked up a bill of thousands of pounds for the school’s ‘already-stretched budget’.
Kenneth has had to clear human waste left by the trespassers. He said: “They’re defecating, they leave it in the same place on the reception playground where the young four-to-five-year-olds play. We’re forever looking around inspecting places. It’s absolutely disgusting. Someone has got to clean it and disinfect it. Then, for them to come back and do it again.”
The last twelve months Kenneth has arrived to outside taps left running, minibuses with broken windscreens, wipers ripped off the vehicles, scooters stolen, padlocked sheds broken into, damaged and the contents of the sheds spread across the playgrounds.
He said: “They do anything they can. Everything we replace they damage it again. Toys and apparatus for children to play with, they throw the doors open on the storage sheds and scatter everything everywhere.
“They scattered a bag of disposable gloves everywhere around the school. They blew them up, filled them up, tied them and discarded them everywhere.
“They draw graffiti over the playground equipment, they write false names leading to somebody at the school.
“This time was the most destructive, the last bank holiday they damaged what we call the giant yard. It’s a big stone statue with a giant’s face on it. They’ve totally obliterated it, smashed his nose, smashed his eye in. It’s totally beyond my sort of repair. The kids see the damage and they get upset. They don’t understand why all of its face is smashed in.”
Although CCTV has recorded footage of the culprits, estimated to be between 11-15-years-old, identifying them has been an impossible task. Gladstone Primary Academy have now invested in a brand new CCTV system in a bid to identify the perpetrators.
The school has also called on the surrounding community to alert the police if they spot anything suspicious.
Kenneth said: “Somebody will know something. We’re overlooked, there’s houses all around us. We’re desperate to get it stopped.”
Headteacher Elaine Preston said: “Over the past few months the number and severity of incidents of vandalism affecting the school grounds has escalated quite alarmingly.
“Recent incidents affecting our much loved Gladstone Giant has left us all deeply upset. Not only does this senseless vandalism have a negative impact on our children, but also on our school budget which is already stretched.
“Gladstone is at the heart of the local community and we would ask that, as such, the community remain our eyes and ears when we are closed and contact the police if they see any suspicious activity.”
A spokesperson for Staffordshire Police said: “We were called to Anchor Road, Stoke-on-Trent, on 28 November 2022 following reports of criminal damage.
Between 6pm on 25 November and 9.45am on 28 November, a shed was damaged at an address by a group of youths. Nothing was reported as stolen and inquiries are ongoing.
“If you were in the area at the time and have any CCTV that could help us with our inquiries, contact us through Live Chat on our website, or call 101, quoting incident number 170 of 28 November 2022. To report anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
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