'Feral kids' attack Rushden primary school for third time

A Rushden school has been left counting the cost of another night of vandalism that saw youths climb over two fences and scale scaffolding to daub gloss paint on slates, walls and skylights.

The attack on Alfred Lord Tennyson’s infant school site in Alfred Street is the third incident since work started on a £290,000 re-roofing project.

Previous vandalism damaged slates destined for the roof when they were thrown down on to builders’ equipment.

Each attack has been reported to police via an online portal – a meeting was held with local businesses, police and the school sought to share concerns.

Project manager for North Northants Council Mark Croxen said: “All the vandalism together has cost about £20,000. The police know who they are. All the people in the town know who they are.

"They are feral kids. They brought hammers on to the site. Kids have been caught on the scaffolding during the day.

"The last attack caused about £5,000-worth of damage. They scaled two fences, the school’s perimeter fence and the builder’s fence and climbed up the scaffolding with a six-litre tin of white gloss paint.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson School was created in 2023 when Alfred Street Junior School and Tennyson Road Infant School were merged and now has 125 children on the roll.

The town centre site has been targeted by vandals – the paint attack took place on Monday night (January 29), on Tuesday night youths were spotted on the roof of the Alfred Street campus.

School governors Jake and Lynne Baker say they are angered by the attacks.

Mrs Baker said: "I am incensed. We are very very proud of our school. I was very disappointed the roof was vandalised by youths who are definitely intent on doing as much damage as possible. This is about the fifth incident that we know about, with youngsters climbing on the roof using the scaffolding. Paint was used to daub the roof and skylights, and several rude images were painted and scratched into areas they painted."

Slates covered with the crude graffiti had to be removed as they could not be cleaned, but Mrs Baker thinks whoever used the paint will probably be covered in white gloss.

She said: “These perpetrators must have got paint all over themselves. I am appealing to parents whose teenagers came home with paint on shoes or clothing. They should challenge their offspring and report them, because not only are they committing serious criminal damage, which they can be prosecuted for, it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt.

“The authority (North Northants Council NNC) will now have to pay for the damage, which will come out of everyone's council tax.

"I am frustrated and very saddened to see that just a few individuals can spoil things for the rest of us, especially as I see so many young people working so hard to help others.”

Mr Baker added: “One of these days somebody is going to get killed. I would say to the people who did this ‘how would you feel if somebody unknown came and vandalised your home, your property?’

"It’s not brave, it’s destructive and it has a much wider impact on the school.”

Mr Croxen, who has been project managing the roofing project, added: “They know who it is as they are running amuck round the town centre most nights.”

A Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) covering areas of Rushden town centre will begin today (February 1) to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Speaking about the PSPO last month (January), leader of NNC, Cllr Jason Smithers, said: “We have a pretty dire situation in Rushden at the moment and that’s why this PSPO’s been brought into place.

"We have to get on top of these things, not just in Rushden, but across the whole of North Northamptonshire.

“We want this to be a place that people are going to be proud to live.

"If we’re making the headlines for the wrong things that’s not a good look for us.”

North Northants Council has been contacted for a statement.

Northants Police confirmed they had been contacted about the vandalism via the online portal and the youths on the roof.

A spokesman said: “We received a report from a member of the public regarding children on the roof of Alfred Street Junior School at around 6.55pm January 30.

“It appears the group left the premises soon after.”