A north-east primary school, which was devastated by vandals, will reopen today, while the local community joins forces to pay for £20,000 worth of damage.
Intruders wreaked havoc inside Markethill Primary School in Turriff last weekend, emptying food on the floor and damaging computing equipment.
The vandals also trashed a historic stained glass window which was due to be moved to a replacement primary school in the town.
Markethill was closed on Monday and yesterday to allow police forensic experts to conduct an investigation and allow staff to clear up the mess.
But now, education chiefs have announced the school will reopen this morning to nursery and primary pupils.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “Staff have worked very hard to ensure the school is, as far as possible, back to normal and everyone is ready to welcome the children back.
“The head teacher and staff are very grateful to Police Scotland for their support in investigating the matter as well as janitorial, cleaning and catering staff, and the council’s property and ICT Services for everything they have done to restore order.”
She added that the staff were “appreciative of all the offers of assistance” from the local community.
Last night, a spokeswoman for the police confirmed the investigation was ongoing and issued an appeal for anyone with information to contact the force on 101.
A fundraising campaign has also been launched by the public to replace the historic stained glass window.
A JustGiving page has been set up to raise £1,000 and last night nearly £300 had already been pledged: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Markethillprimary
