Weeks after staff and pupils protested against gangsters and vandals destroying their school, a fire started by a burglar almost razed the building. Lessons were cancelled yesterday and children sent for counselling after they arrived at Cedar Primary School, in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town, to find administration offices burnt to the ground. Toilets and the kitchen were also badly damaged.Principal Carlin Symonds said pupils took to the streets this month because they had had a break-in every two weeks since school opened in January ."They are breaking their own community," she said."There is nothing left of my office. All my three cabinets with my filing, my computer with all my documents in, the secretary's office . there is nothing there. The staff room is burnt out. There is nothing left of the teachers' toilets."Kamielah Collins, who lives next to the school, said at about 1pm on Sunday she was called by a neighbour who had seen a man leaving the school building through the roof, carrying two bags.She chased the man, who dumped the bags and ran away. School equipment was found in the bags."They are stealing the children's future," Collins said."We need the department to do something about the fencing of the school."Collins said that at weekends the school "looks like Mzoli's" - a popular braai and party spot in Gugulethu - due to the many people who used the premises to drink and smoke.School governing body chairman Joanne Lewis said security reinforcements were needed at the school.During the Easter holiday, parents will guard the premises in the day until the caretaker arrives for his night shift.Western Cape education spokesman Jessica Shelver said: "Additional security will be deployed to the school."..