Tables were overturned, lockers tipped over, furniture destroyed, doors taped over, rubbish emptied on the floor and papers were scattered about, according to reports of the vandalism at the Zurich North cantonal school in Oerlikon.

“It looks like a battlefield,” Blick reported online, describing the aftermath.

The newspaper published photos of crude graffiti scrawled on the floor.

Principal Felix Angst told the newspaper the school’s 1,850 students were sent home while authorities filed a complaint against persons unknown.

“If we find out who it was, the offenders must pay for the property damage,” Angst said.

“And that is high.”

On Tuesday afternoon 60 high school students — around a third of the graduating class — admitted to being involved in a graduation prank that escalated and got out of hand, Blick reported.

“They could not tell us how it went so far,” Angst said, indicating that a hunt for the ringleaders was still ongoing.

Classes have finished for students graduating from the school although they still have final oral exams to finish next week.

Pranks from graduating students are something of a tradition but there was nothing creative about the latest activities, Angst told Blick.

“This is vandalism.”

The Zurich North school opened its doors just last year in August, according to information on its website.