FIRE extinguishers were discharged after youngsters sneaked into a primary school during the school holidays.
Police are looking to trace up to half a dozen teenagers who were seen at the lower campus of Haddington Primary School on Monday afternoon.
A group of between four and six youths were seen going through the school’s bin store before throwing items at the window of a nearby home.
At about 5.30pm, the same group are thought to have entered the fire door of the school’s kitchen and activated the fire alarm before running away.
Police said that the incidents took place at the school and nearby Mill Wynd between 4.30pm and 6pm.
The youths are described as being aged between 14 and 16, with slim builds and wearing hooded tops.
READ MORE: Haddington Primary School targeted by teenagers
Sergeant Rhona Meikle encouraged people to get in touch with any information.
She said: “We will be carrying out enquiries in the local area and viewing CCTV footage to try and identify the youths involved.
“We are asking for anyone in the community with information to please come forward.
“At the same time, we are appealing to local parents to engage with your children and ensure they don’t get drawn into these kinds of anti-social and disruptive activities.”
East Lothian Council confirmed it had been aware of “unauthorised access” to the school on Monday evening.
A spokeswoman spoke to the Courier on Tuesday afternoon and confirmed that nothing had been taken in what was described as “senseless damage”.
At the same time, “a number of internal areas including the kitchen have been damaged, with items scattered around and fire extinguishers discharged”.
She said: “Police are currently processing the scene for evidence.
“Once this has been completed, our teams, including specialist cleaning and repairs teams, will attend to clean the affected areas and assess the full extent of the damage.
“We expect that works will be completed ahead of the school returning next week and arrangements are in place for children who are attending nursery and after-school club over the holiday period.
“The production kitchen in Haddington Primary School is used to make meals for other school settings during holiday periods, including nurseries in Yester and Letham Primary Schools.
“All three nurseries will move to packed lunches due to this disruption and we will keep their parents and carers up to date with the likely duration of this.
“Our facilities teams have been working hard to maintain services during the pandemic and it is extremely disappointing that they are having to divert significant resource to dealing with the aftermath of this break-in and senseless damage.
“We would encourage anyone with information to contact the police, and we will be cooperating fully with them to identify those responsible.”
Call police on 101 with information, quoting incident 2531 of February 14.
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