Pre-school team ‘devastated’ after vandals urinate in playhouse and steal toys

Staff at a pre-school have said they are “devastated” after vandals destroyed equipment and urinated in a playhouse, leaving it unusable.

A group broke into the garden area at South Wootton Pre-School – which is housed within the village hall on Church Lane – on Sunday afternoon before going on a rampage of destruction.

Police are now investigating the incident and say they are “working hard to identify those responsible”.

But in the meantime, the pre-school’s owner Lisa Carter says the children are unable to use the playhouse – which has an “awful” smell – and the team of 10 have had to start fixing some of what was broken.

“I was devastated for the staff who have spent so long getting the garden to how it was,” she said.

“We like to recycle things and use old pallets – a lot of our equipment was handmade, we made lots of things from scratch, so there are things that can’t be replaced.

“I’m upset for them. They’ve put all this hard work in, and someone has come in and just destroyed it.

“It was quite disheartening.”

Lisa added: “The playhouse is the biggest thing, we have been advised not to use it.

“We have got two to four-year-olds crawling around on their hands, and we don’t know what has been affected in there.”

As well as urinating in the playhouse, the vandals also graffitied over a new fence, broke toys, stole toys and smashed benches – with it amounting to £1,000 worth of damage.

“The children had been thoroughly enjoying all the new things which have now been ruined,” the team added in a post on Facebook – which was shared more than 200 times and had more than 115 reactions from many who shared their anger at the situation.

“Any help is greatly appreciated – we’re replacing as much as we can so that the pre-school doesn’t have to completely foot the bill.”

Lisa said there had been an “amazing” response from the community, with local businesses asking if they could help.

Two fundraising pages have also been set up, one by Joanna Branham and another by Hannah Greeves, which have so far gathered £1,200 between them.

“It’s been lovely – the fact that people have set them up, we’re really grateful,” Lisa said.

They are now hoping to get the garden back to the state it was in and wanting to source a new playhouse and equipment “as soon as possible”.

The pre-school, which has 50 children on its roll and looks after 32 youngsters at any one time, is still able to use its garden, and Lisa said they the children are “none the wiser” to what has happened.

CCTV images of the culprits are now with the police, who are investigating the incident.

“I’m assuming they were fairly young children who thought it was funny,” Lisa added.

“If they find out who they are, hopefully it will stop them doing it again.”

A Norfolk Police spokeswoman said: “Police received a report of criminal damage at a business address on Church Lane, South Wootton on Monday 22 May 2023.

“The incident occurred between 1.30pm on Sunday 21 May 2023 and 7.30am on Monday morning where various items including fences and play equipment were damaged.

“Enquiries are currently ongoing.”

In a post on its Facebook page, King’s Lynn Police added: “We know many of you are upset by the criminal damage at South Wootton pre-school earlier this week – please be assured that we are investigating the incident and working hard to identify those responsible.

“If you think you saw something or may know who it was then please get in touch with us on 101 or online – quoting crime ref 36/36623/23.”

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