A primary school has been hit by vandals for the second time in a week, bringing their repair bill for three months to more than £3,000.

Staff are at their wits' end as costs mount for broken windows and smashed tiles at Laindon Park County Primary School, Church Hill, Basildon.

Christine Garland, headteacher, said: "We have no idea who is doing it. Our school is quite isolated and nobody has seen who it can be.

"Other than putting grilling over the windows, there's not a great deal we can do."

So far the vandals have:

Smashed four windows over the weekend with tiles stolen from a local garage

Broken seven windows in one classroom last weekend using pebbles and bits of stone

Smashed a total of 18 windows just five weeks ago

Removed or broken 250 roof tiles in an incident in May.

Mrs Garland said: "I'm still digging bits of glass off my desk from the weekend. On Friday we had to clear up the room before the children could come in.

"It will cost between £200 and £300. The damage to the tiles in May cost £3,000 and we had to pay for that out of our budget. We hope to claim most of it from the insurers, but we can't do that with these smaller amounts.

"Being a very small primary school with a very limited budget, it's difficult for us."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.