THE CRUEL theft of books and games from a primary school has prompted the kind donation of replacements worth £1,400.
Staff, pupils and friends of John Wycliffe Primary School in Lutterworth were left angry and frustrated after the burglary, when fundraising items including raffle prizes for the school’s Christmas Fair, refreshments, and even the elf costumes for the school’s Santa’s grotto were also stolen.
The thieves also took around £1,500 worth of power tools from a storage shed when they struck during the summer holidays – the second break-in at the school in the space of a year.
But a logistics company in partnership with a retailer has stepped in to replace the books and games.
Head teacher Vickie Njoroge said the thieves drained school funds by over £3,000 – the cost of replacing the power tools and storage shed.
She said: “Our reaction is one of anger, frustration and disappointment.
“The school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) had to pay out twice in order to replace everything – not to mention the fact that they generously give their free time to fundraising.
“It is fundraising from the PTA that goes directly back to the children for resources that enrich their day-to-day life at school, over and above what the school provides.
“It caused extra work for our premises officer and office manager and a delay in certain jobs being completed until the items had been replaced.”
But warehouse and logistics company CML and their client Hacche Retail were able to donate a variety of activity and reading books and games worth nearly £1,400.
CML general manager Phil Perkins said: “We’re passionate about helping the local community and when we heard about the sad news at the primary school, we were more than willing to help in any way we could.
“Working with Hacche meant that we were able to make this happen, and we would like to say a huge thank you for their kind donation.”
Vickie added: “We were over the moon with the donation from CML, and have also received donations to replace refreshments from Lidl.
“We are all very grateful for such donations which will enable the PTA’s volunteered time and energy to be spent on raising money rather than replacing stolen items.
“Some of the books will go straight into the classrooms and the remaining items will be used by the PTA as prizes to raise funds for the school.
“They help to provide those little extras to enrich the children’s learning, so we are very grateful.
“If I had the chance to speak to the people that stole the items, I would encourage them to think about the knock-on effect of taking such items. In effect, they are stealing directly from their own families, future familes and friends’ families.
“But this donation goes some way towards restoring our faith in human nature and is a great example of how local businesses can enrich the lives of children in the local community.”
