Many internal doors were damaged by the vandals

A mobile classroom at Cedar Lodge school in Greencastle was ransacked on Friday, shortly after an attack at Mount Gilbert Community College.

Computer equipment was damaged and 22 classrooms were ransacked at Mount Gilbert on the Ballygomartin Road in the early hours of Friday.

It is thought up to three youths - believed to be in their late teens or early 20s - broke into the school, leaving many of its internal doors badly damaged.

A CCTV camera and an alarm unit were destroyed, while money was taken from a drinks vending machine.

The school's principal, John Crossan, said staff had been shocked and distressed at the vandalism.

However, he said that despite the damage, the school would be open on Monday.

Democratic Unionist assembly member Nelson McCausland condemned both attacks as "wanton mindless vandalism".

"Such attacks inevitably disrupt the operation of the schools and teaching resources that have been built up over the years by dedicated staff can easily be destroyed in a moment of mindless vandalism," he said.