Fury as East End nursery is vandalised

AN East End nursery’s preparations to welcome children back post lockdown have been ruined by cruel vandals. Staff at Royston Nursery discovered the outdoor area had been wrecked when they arrived for work on Tuesday morning.

Bricks had been thrown around, tables had been overturned and numerous items were broken or damaged during the incident, which occurred overnight.

It comes after parents had fundraised hundreds to kit the area out in anticipation of childcare services fully resuming.

Naomi Wright, the deputy manager, told the Glasgow Times: “It was really upsetting to see it like that.

“It wasn’t a costly thing, but it was a lot of mess, a lot of things misplaced and mistreated.

“They had obviously spent a lot of time breaking little brushes, tipping tables over and stamping on things.”

She added: “It’s after weeks of hard work from staff making the outdoor area nice and safe because obviously we’ll be using it a lot more now because of Covid.

“It’s definitely put us back and you feel so sorry for the children.”

It’s the first incident to take place in the Royston Road nursery.

Staff are urging any witnesses to contact police.

Councillor Chris

Cunningham, city convener for education, said: “We all have a role to play in making sure these types of incidents don’t happen again – we need to educate local communities on the impact that vandalism can have – not just the financial element of fixing and replacing equipment but the impact is has on the children who attend the school or nursery.”

Cllr Elaine McDougall added: “It’s absolutely appalling. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and the staff’s hard work is being undone.”