WHEN VANDALS struck a school which helps the most vulnerable children in our society, the school was left devastated.

Cruel yobs broke windows by throwing tiles through them and sprayed graffiti throughout St Francis school in Fareham.

The callous acts caused at least £15,000 worth of damage to the school which cares for children learning difficulties, and forced it to close its doors until repairs can be made.

This is the latest incident at the Oldbury Way school, which looks after children aged two to 19 with learning difficulties, after vandals struck in half-term and paint was sprayed inside the school shed.

But since the attack on Sunday evening, the school has been overwhelmed by an outpouring of support from the local community, including an offer from a Fareham based company to kit them put with CCTV.

Onecom, a telecommunications provider, has offered to donate and entire CCTV system to the school to try and prevent such senseless acts of vandalism happening again.

Head teacher Steve Hollinhurst, said: “The vandals removed about 100 tiles from the roof and threw them through skylights and windows.

“The result is that we have had to close the school for a whole week which is absolutely devastating for the children because they love school and for the parents because the school to some extent is respite for them during the week.

“This will affect 92 children and every single child has got complex special needs in this school.

"The vandals need to come where for the day and see what they have done to the children and the families.

"The response from the community has been absolutely fantastic we have had help from loads and loads of different people, we have had one company called Onecom offer to put in a CCTV system throughout the whole school."

Hampshire County Council has since employed a team of builders to try and repair the damage which included smashing 19 windows.

Deputy head teacher Fiona Proffit said: "The vandalism has sickened me, I am absolutely appalled by what they have done and I cannot believe that somebody would do that.

"I would like the vandals to come and see out children here and see what we do and what a difference it makes.

"The parents have been brilliant and the offers of help we have had, from people who do not even have a connection to the school, has been overwhelming."

The staff hope the school will be able to reopen next week, although due to the complex needs of the children they care for they need to make sure it is completely safe before letting children back into the school.

Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information on the incident to contact them by calling 101.