An arson attack at a Catholic primary in north Belfast is being treated as a sectarian incident.

The fire at St Mary’s Star of the Sea on Shore Road started in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week, causing extensive damage to the school. But no staff or pupils were injured.

A plastic sign and bins were set alight and the blaze spread to the boiler house. Attempts were made to set fire to the roof and sectarian graffiti was written on the building.

Brendan Harron, senior official for the Irish National Teachers’ Association, said: “The summer months appear to have become ‘open season’ for attacks on school buildings by mindless individuals who appear to have nothing better to do with their time. Sadly, this particular incident has the hallmarks of a sectarian attack.

“Funding for education is already very thinly spread and no school or community can afford to spend scarce resources in repairing the damage caused by these thugs.”

This is the latest in a series of attacks on the school. In March, sectarian slurs were painted on its walls, windows and tarmac. MR.