YOUNGSTERS are calling on good sports for help after vandals targeted their outdoor PE equipment.

Some of the gear was taken and the rest strewn across the grounds of Bullamoor junior school, in Northallerton, after the vandals broke into a storage shed by setting fire to the door.

Deputy headteacher Jane Byrne said she hoped the community could help, and warned that the incident had raised the possibility of fences being erected around the school.

"We have to start all over again in building up the stock of PE equipment and the shed will need a door at the very least," she said.

"I am asking people to help if they possibly can."

Mrs Byrne added: "We do not want to see iron fences around our schools as is the case in some areas, but it is getting that way."

She said pupils were upset by the incident.

"It is so disheartening for them as they are full of positive ideas, and then we get something like this."