COMPUTERS worth about £1,400 have been stolen from a York school.

Police arrived at Osbaldwick Primary School in the early hours of yesterday morning to find a carpet of broken glass, and computer leads hanging out of the window.

It was the second York area school to fall victim to burglars this year - four computers were taken from Elvington Primary School in March.

The three machines stolen in yesterday's theft were used by pupils for word processing, databases and spreadsheets as well as Internet access for research.

Head teacher Robin Mason said: "The children were very upset when I told them about the theft in assembly - they were very proud of their computers."

Mr Mason said it appeared the thieves had just grabbed what they could after breaking the window of the computer suite.

"But they left an awful lot of mess, shattered glass and the like, that will take the room out of action for a few days."

Mr Mason said that although the computers - paid for out of school funds - were insured, the school would still have to foot the bill for the window to be replaced.

"It's a downright nuisance because there are lots of other problems and other damage that was caused that are not covered by the insurance."

The theft from Elvington Primary School had a similar effect.

Head teacher Jenny Smith said they too had been confronted by shattered double-glazed windows when the break-in was discovered.

"The children were very annoyed and very disappointed when they heard about the burglary - they loved their computers so much," she said.

The funding for the school's computers had come from parents, government and the school budget.

Meanwhile, Westfield Junior School head teacher Mark Barnett said that his school had once again been targeted by vandals over the Easter break.

The Evening Press reported last month how 20 windows had been broken at the school in a single attack.

Thugs returned over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend and broke another six.

Mr Barnett, who is also chairman of York Safer Schools, again called on parents to take responsibility for their children's actions.

"What do parents think their children are doing when they are out of the house?" he said.