VANDALS have caused around £14,000 of damage at a school after leaving a hosepipe running through a window for more than 12 hours.Staff and students at Deben High School in Felixstowe have been left deeply upset by the attack, which also included 23 windows being smashed.

VANDALS have caused around £14,000 of damage at a school after leaving a hosepipe running through a window for more than 12 hours.

Staff and students at Deben High School in Felixstowe have been left deeply upset by the attack, which also included 23 windows being smashed.

Teachers are urging youngsters at the school to come forward if they know anything about the incident, which is set to cause severe disruption to the school in Garrison Lane over the next few weeks.

Police are also investigating the vandalism and appealing for witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity in and around the school grounds to contact them.

School staff are convinced that the damage was carried out by someone who knew the school because the culprits climbed over a flat roof to reach a quad where the hosepipe was stored and then climb back again with it.

The pipe was then fed through a high-level window in the sixth form common room and turned on.

Had the premises manager not come in on Sunday morning to work and checked round the rear of the school, the pipe – which had been running for 12 to 14 hours – would have been undiscovered for another 36 hours.

A spokeswoman for the school said the incident, which happened Saturday night or Sunday morning, had ruined carpets and left the wood block floor soaked.

It would be another month before the floor was dry and it was known if it needed to be replaced.

Four windows – two in art rooms and two in labs – were broken with bricks.

Then between 11.30pm Sunday and 6am Monday the school was attacked again and a further 19 windows, including ones in geography, physics, sixth form computer rooms, and staff offices, were smashed.

A spokeswoman for the school described the damage as "wanton vandalism".

She said: "Without the flooring being redone, we are talking about £12,000 to £14,000 damage – new carpet will be needed and the broken windows all need replacing.

"There will also be a knock-on effect and disruption throughout the school because the sixth form common room will be out of action."

The room is used for some examinations and also by the sixth formers, and both will need to be found other accommodation.

Headteacher Terry Ring has impressed upon the students that it is their school environment and learning which has been affected and urged them to come forward if they have any information which could help the investigation.

A police spokeswoman said it was hoped residents in the area could provide clues and appealed for anyone who saw persons in the school grounds over the weekend to call Pc Steven Lee on 01473 613500.

"It may be what they saw did not seem suspicious at the time but putting two and two together it may now be relevant and could help the inquiry," she added.