A six-year-old boy was cut by flying glass and his classmates were left weeping and afraid when thoughtless youths kicked a football through a school window.

Police officers said today they were looking for two teenage boys who smashed the window at Clifton Green Primary School's infant building in Shipton Street, York.

Ben Holding, six, was sitting having a reading lesson with his classmates when the ball smashed through, showering shards of glass across the room.

Deputy head Jean Calverley, who was teaching the class at the time, said: "It was really quite frightening. A lot of glass flew across the classroom and some of the children were quite alarmed.

"Ben was sitting on the far side of the room and the fragment came right the way across.

"It was a fairly minor cut on his brow, but it gave him quite a fright and he was very brave."

Ben's mum Eve, from Crombie Avenue, said: "He's all right now, but he said to me 'It did frighten me Mum'.

"I think it frightened all of them. A lot of kids were crying."

PC Nicky Durkin, of Clifton Moor Police, said another mother had been cycling to the school to pick a child up from the nursery when she saw two teenage boys kick the ball through the window at about 11am.

She stopped to speak to them but they shouted abuse and ran off.

PC Durkin said: "People should be less reckless than to be kicking a football around outside a primary school.

"The glass could have got into a child's eye."

She said she wanted to speak to two teenagers in connection with the incident. The first is described as aged 12 or 13, five foot tall, of a normal build, with gingery short hair and wearing a red coat with navy patches on it.

The second was aged 14 or 15, five foot five inches tall, with short mousy to light brown hair, wearing a blue track suit.

Anyone who saw anything can contact her on 01904 631321.

Updated: 09:12 Friday, January 18, 2002