Sporting equipment was stolen during a break and enter at Holy Family Primary over the weekend, the latest in a series of recent break-ins at local schools.
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Thieves broke into the sports room and stole a large amount of equipment, including soccer and basketball gear.
A glass door was smashed, a double-glazed window shattered and a door handle ripped off.
Principal Kevin Arrow said the theft occurred between 10am on Saturday and 11am on Sunday.
“Someone’s come on site and broken a few windows and tried to get entry,” he said.
The school’s sports store room was then targeted by the thieves.
“It’s around $2000 in damage, but it could have been a lot worse,” Mr Arrow said.
Just last month there were three vandal attacks on the same weekend at other schools across Bathurst.
Vandals caused up to $200,000 in damage at Kelso Public School when they smashed their way through more than half the school’s 21 classrooms.
They poured paint over a number of rooms and destroyed computers and smartboards as they went.
On the same weekend, vandals smashed two of Carenne School’s buses, while five chickens were slaughtered and their nesting box set on fire in a sickening attack at Bathurst South Public School.
Mr Arrow said it had been a number of years since the school had been targeted by thieves and trespassers.
“We’re a bit out of the way and we don’t usually have trespassers,” he said. “We haven’t been targeted for several years. Schools are good targets [for thieves] from time to time.”
Mr Arrow said final assessments of damage are still being made, and the school hopes to replace the stolen equipment soon.
Chifley Local Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Luke Rankin urged anyone with information about these incidents to call Bathurst Police on 6332 8699 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
