COMPUTERS worth more than £20,000 have been stolen from two primary schools less than a mile apart.

Thieves broke into Holcombe Brook Primary and Greenmount Primary between 6pm and 10pm on Friday (February 6) stealing 21 Toshiba and HP laptops and five Acer netbooks.

Police said pupils had been left “devastated” by the burglaries, and are now appealing for witnesses to either incident to come forward.

The netbooks, worth between £200 and £300 each, were stolen from Greenmount Primary in Holhouse Lane after burglars used a bench from the schoolyard to smash a window.

David Griffith, Greenmount Primary’s headteacher, said they are used for IT and different learning activities by all classes.

He added: “We find it shocking that people target schools, which obviously impacts negatively on children’s education.

“The burglars made quite a lot of damage on entry, using one of the children’s benches off the yard to smash a window, but this is not too expensive. The netbooks will be replaced.

“The children were worried people had been into their school and in their space.”

Staff were alerted to the break-in at Greenmount Primary at 8.30pm on Friday after the school’s alarm went off.

A total of 21 HP and Toshiba laptops worth around £350 each were stolen from trolleys in the ICT suite of Holcombe Brook Primary at around 9.40pm the same night.

Burglars broke a window at the back of the school before using bolt cutters to break the metal grills over the window, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

They broke padlocks on the secure trolleys where the laptops – which are used for children to do ICT work, SATs practice, typing, presentations, research and class blogging – are kept.

Gill Evans, the school’s headteacher, said: “The mentality of people who steal from schools and disrupt children’s education for a relatively small amount of money is just mindless.

“The children were absolutely horrified burglars had been in their school.

“We told them about what had happened so they know there are not as many laptops and they will have to share the desktop computers until we get replacements.”

Police Constable Kev McGill, from the Bury East policing team, said: “The staff and especially the pupils are devastated someone has broken into their school and stolen this equipment.

“The laptops are an important tool when it comes to the children’s lesson time but thanks to the actions of the offenders, that has now been taken from them.

“I would ask local residents who may have seen people acting suspiciously near to both schools between 6pm and 10pm that night to call us.

Also, if you are approached by someone offering cheap laptops for sale, please get in touch.”

Anyone with information should phone police on 0161 856 8181 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.