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Louth pupils see their hard work hit by vandals
Governor Andrew Willson with pupils Jessica Cole, Amy Crombleholme and Janey Panton with their broken signs at Kidgate Primary Academy in Louth.
Staff and pupils at a primary school in Louth have been left saddened after pupils’ work was destroyed by ‘mindless’ vandals at the weekend.
Youngsters at Kidgate Primary Academy had designed and created their own signs in Cinder Lane outside the school in a bid to prevent problem parking by parents dropping off and picking up their children.
But on Saturday night they were smashed by cruel vandals and left littered on the floor.
School head Tracey Roberts said the pupils, as well as parents and staff, were ‘saddened and upset’ at seeing their work destroyed.
The signs were designed by pupils in July and at a cost of £300 were mounted onto the school gates in a bid to stop parents parking dangerously on double yellow lines.
Along with other initiatives aimed at highlighting the issue like pupils handing out mock parking tickets to offending parents, the message did finally seem to be getting through.
But now there are fears that the problem parking will return, putting pupils’ lives at risk.
Andrew Willson, a Kidgate governor who has a son at the school, explained: “This came after years of problem parking outside the school, one day someone was going to get knocked over so we decided to do something about it.
“The signs seemed to be having an effect, we were seeing less dangerous parking but in the space of probably ten minutes on Saturday night some mindless yobs on the way back from the pub have smashed them to bits.
“It is a real shame, the message was especially getting through because it was coming from the pupils, who really enjoyed the project.
“It makes me sick to the stomach to be honeset.
“Someone has reported seeing a group in the area on Saturday night and we are hoping they can be picked up on CCTV elsewhere.”
Tracey Roberts, the headteacher, said: “We are saddened and upset by what has happened and disappointed for the children.
“All the children worked very hard in the summer term to think about how they could encourage parents not to park down Cinder Lane when dropping off and picking up children as this puts their lives at risk of accident or worse.
“The posters seemed to be really working and many of the car owners were starting to take notice of them.
“The children are deeply upset that someone would want to actively destroy their work and the important message contained within it, and the parents and staff are outraged too.
“The irresponsible actions of some have completely disrespected the children’s work and message, and taken money away from their education as the school will now have to pay out again for new banners to be produced.
“We would like to urge anyone with information regarding the vandalism to contact the academy.”
Amy Crombleholme, one of the pupils who saw her design vandalised, added: “We are really upset, we put a lot of hard work in and I hope they can be replaced.
“The parking is really dangerous so they were important for telling parents.”
What do you think of the people who did this? How can problem parking like this be addressed? Email your views to sam.kinnaird@jpress.co.uk.
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Thursday 23 May 2013
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