We have a local play area near a secondary school - the amount of vandalism and graffiti has greatly increased since the start of the summer term.
On occasions when I have been at the park over either a school lunch time or break time I have been amazed at the behaviour of Academy pupils in a play area designed for Preschoolers.
I have witnessed swings being thrown over the crossbar during a break time (a sharp word from ourselves had that rectified before the pupil left, however we were stunned by the sheer mindlessness of doing the action in the first place when there were children and adults in attendance). There has also been a fire set on the equipment, as well as the huge increase in obscene graffiti which has already been mentioned ? all of which has happened since the school returned in August. I?m sure if the head teacher saw it he would recognise some of the names scrawled all over the equipment.
In the current economic climate, the City Council cannot be expected to spend its much depleted funds on clearing up vandalism caused by secondary school pupils ? however I don?t want my 4 year old and 2 year old to be playing on equipment declaring various pupils to be either paedophiles or homosexuals ? or simply anywhere that starts that Leah and Danielle have been there.
Is it unreasonable to write to the head teacher to ask that any culprits who are identified (they have written their names all over it - Aeden especially likes his name) are made to clean up their mess and return this childs' play area to the community resource for young children that it should be.