Forest Park School equipment vandalised

CCTV footage shows a group of youths at the secondary school part of the special needs school in Totton after 9pm last Thursday, October 4.

When staff arrived the following morning they discovered that the trampoline, as well as a metal bin and some outside chairs had been set on fire.

Some of the outside play equipment had also been broken.

The news comes after Rob Hatherley spoke to the Daily Echo about plans to build a new sensory garden.

Mr Hatherley said: “It’s so horrible, as they are damaging valuable equipment for vulnerable children.”

He said that the group of youths have been going in to the site since September 30 when neighbours spotted them on the school roof.

Mr Hatherley said: “We have had kids climb into the site before and go on the trampoline.

“We know what kids are like as we work with them everyday. But now I’m worried about this escalating further.

“We don’t want to invest money into this new sensory garden if it is just going to be damaged.”

District councillor Neville Penman, who is also working on the sensory garden project, previously spoke to the Echo about how valuable the new facility will be for the children at Forest Park school.

Cllr Penman said that many local people have already offered to help for free in order to get the project underway.

Mr Hatherley said: “It’s horrid to come in and find out that people have decided to damage our school, I know a lot of the parents and teachers are upset about it.

“We will be officially informing all of our parents about this incident.”

Cllr Penman said: “I’m disgusted to hear that people can actually do this. If this carries on then it would be such a shame if we had to stop the project that will be such a value to the children.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire Police said: “ There are no further lines of enquiry to pursue at the current time.

“The Totton Neighbourhood Policing team is working closely with Forest Park School to prevent further incidents on site.”