A PRIMARY headteacher has hit out at thieves who made off with lead tiles from the roof of her school on Thursday night.

The site manager at Lawn Primary School arrived yesterday morning to find debris from the roof strewn across the floor; he looked up to find that tiles had been stolen overnight.

With heavy rain forecast for Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, the school staff faced a race against time to secure the roof to prevent further damage.

“I just think it’s so low,” said headteacher Kelly James.

“This is third time it has happened in the past few years.

“It’s disgusting that anyone would target a school when it’s the children that will suffer in the end.”

While the school is covered by an insurance policy, Kelly knows that there will still be a financial price to pay for the damage left behind by the thieves.

“Everyone has seen the coverage of school funding cuts, every £1,000 counts,” she added.

“This is going to cost at least that even with the insurance - that’s money that we can’t spend on the children.”

As if the theft of the roof tiles was not expensive and inconsiderate enough, the callous thieves went further still.

In 2014 the school realised a plan that had been a year in the making by transforming an outdoor area into a music garden.

Household and industrial items were donated by local residents and businesses, other items were recovered and recycled.

The project transformed car doors, radiators a fire extinguisher and much more into musical instruments.

The unusual facility was a hit with the pupils and forms part of the music curriculum at Lawn Primary.

But for the thieves that struck under the cover of darkness, even such a clearly child-orientated area wasn’t off limits.

A major piece of the music garden, used as a big bell by the kids, was taken.

Kelly added: “That was what really got to me, I couldn’t believe they would take one of the instruments - it disgusts me.”

After hearing of the incident, Sandy Steele-Davis, chairman of local building firm Steele Davis, deployed a team to make urgent repairs to the roof.

Sandy has grandchildren at the school and wanted to help.

Officers from Wiltshire Police arrived this morning to launch an investigation and carry out enquiries in the area.

A spokesman for the force said: “We are investigating theft of lead from the school roof and a copper cylinder from the play area that happened some time between 8pm on Thursday and 6am on Friday.

“We are appealing for witnesses who may have heard or seen anything suspicious between these times.”