JUST 12 hours before the start of the new school year at Bridgetown Primary School a teacher working after-hours found her class room and several others had been severely vandalised.

The teacher had dropped in at 7pm Sunday to make sure all her material was ready for the new term.

She immediately called principal, Mike Fletcher to decide how the school could be repaired in time.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said.

Four classrooms had been damaged, with glass covering the floors.

Seventeen windows were smashed, including a glass door, the library door has been smashed as had the canteen door and a store room.

“Nothing appears to have been stolenbut teachers who called in to help all felt so devastated,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Many were in tears as they tried to clear the mess to make the classes safe for the youngsters who were due in to school at 8.30 on Monday.

“Our cleaners came back in force and our glass contractors from Balingup turned up with their truck full of safety glass to repair the damage.” Mr Fletcher said. “With the teachers so upset, I sent them home to get some rest before starting school in the morning.”

“I left after midnight,” he said.

“I could see the clean-up was in good hands, and I needed to get ready for the new term as well.

“When I came back ready to open the school up, I couldn’t believe that the repairs and clean up had been so effective. Even all the new books for each classroom had been cleaned of broken glass.

“The glaziers rang and said they had run out of glass at 2am and were on their way back to finish off a couple of windows which had just been given temporary repairs.”

“The dedicated teachers here at Bridgetown Primary School are so grateful to the tradesmen and the school cleaners for the work they have done,” Mr Fletcher said. “It would have been terrible if the new students had walked into their class rooms on the first day of term and seen the terrible damage.”