A THREE Towns school was this weekend left with ‘substantial damage’ following a break-in.

St Matthew’s Academy in Saltcoats was broken in to in the early hours of Saturday morning and police confirmed that a quantity of money was taken.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “We are aware of a break-in at St Matthew’s Academy at approximately 2am on Saturday morning and are liaising with police about the matter.

“While this is a very serious criminal act, there has also been substantial damage done to the building that will result in costly repairs for the school.

“Theft of any kind is completely unacceptable, and even more so when it is carried out on a building that’s primary purpose is to provide a safe learning environment for our community’s children.

“We would urge anyone with any information about the incident to contact the police in the first instance.”