YOUNGSTERS at one of North Yorkshire's largest primary schools were left shocked and upset by vandals who destroyed their pond and smashed 26 windows.

In two attacks in just over a week, during the Bank Holiday and then last weekend, louts caused more than £1,500-worth of damage at Norton County Primary School in Grove Street, which has 553 pupils.

Children from the school's Year Four class were devastated to return from their half-term break to find all the irises they had planted round the wildlife pond had been ripped out, torn up and thrown in the water.

"They had spent time planting them and making it a nice area," said head teacher Maureen Benson, who is looking after the school for a term before new head teacher Tracey Ralph - who at present teaches in Acomb, York - takes over.

Michael Arnold, who has been school caretaker for 14 years, said: "They wrecked it completely. All the plants were smashed up. The children had worked hard to clean the pond up and make it pretty with border plants."

Mr Arnold said he only knew of the school being targeted by vandals once before, about four years ago.

Armed with vases, kerbing and bits of gravestones from the nearby cemetery, the yobs smashed 18 windows in the nursery and canteen - leaving the cleaning staff with a mammoth clean-up job to remove all the broken glass from food preparation and play areas.

"It's been awful. The cleaning staff have had to work hard to get all the glass up and out of the boxes of Lego and equipment. It's just gone everywhere," said Mrs Benson.

The following weekend the vandals struck again, smashing another eight windows both in the nursery and canteen, sparking a second clean-up operation.

"I hate any type of vandalism," said Mrs Benson. "It's just so pointless and wanton. It was horrible for the children to come back to a school with windows boarded up."

She appealed for locals to keep an eye out for youths in the school grounds or cemetery and contact the police.

Community safety sergeant Cliff Edens, of Malton Police, said: "Someone will know the offender because it will have been done for bravado. We will find who's done this."

Updated: 10:08 Wednesday, June 09, 2004