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Little Barn Owls Pre-School in the grounds of Elson Infant School was targeted in the early hours of Monday morning, when a group of people broke into the sheds, tossing the contents of them out into the nursery playground.

The incident has left heartbroken youngsters with nowhere to play outside while the area is cleaned up.

Families have stepped in to try and help out, but nursery staff are furious that anyone could do something like this.

Little Barn Owls Pre-School in Elson. Picture: Supplied

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Pre-school manager Julia Batley said: ‘They absolutely wrecked the place – they opened our sheds and threw everything inside all over the place.

‘It makes me feel really angry because the stuff is important to the children.

‘Things like drainpipes to race cars down are of no value to anyone else, but they get so much joy out of them.’

Some of the damage at Little Barn Owls Pre-School. A sign on the door has marked the playground area as 'not safe' for the time being. Picture: Supplied

Julia says the most difficult thing hasn’t been clearing away the damage, but telling the children they cannot use the playground.

‘The children now have all these things they play with on a daily basis which have been destroyed,’ she said.

‘Those poor kids don’t understand why they can’t go out and play; seeing their faces as they watched us clear away the debris was just heartbreaking.

‘We just can’t believe something like this could happen.’

Little Barn Owls has also been targeted in the past, with incidents in 2017 and 2018.

The clean-up operation has cost the staff both time and money – but parents have been on hand to show their support.

Julia said: ‘Parents have been donating toys and other bits and pieces to help us out; we can’t thank them enough for their generosity.

‘For now, we’re just putting our best foot forward and trying to carry on as we always have done, for the sake of the children.’

Police have been informed.

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: ‘We have received a report of entry being forced to sheds at the pre-school at Elson Infants School. It was reported some items were damaged in the incident.’

Anyone with information can call 101, quoting the crime reference number 44200090974.

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