Computer thieves strike again at Millfields Primary School (From Gazette)

Computer thieves strike again at Millfields Primary School

6:40pm Tuesday 25th October 2011 in News By Helen Orrell

Millfields headteacher Janet Meacock shows where the laptops were stored

A HEADTEACHER has condemned “low life” burglars who stole pupils’ computers for the second time in two months.

Burglars struck again at Millfields Primary School, in Wivenhoe, stealing 20 laptops, which had just been replaced after a break-in last month.

The Hewlett Packard laptops, worth £12,000 in total, had been used just once by the children before Monday’s raid.

They were replacements for 34 laptops stolen from the Bowes Road school by burglars on September 5.

Headteacher Janet Meacock said: “We just had them delivered about two weeks ago.

“Our technicians then spent a lot of time getting them ready and our classes got to use them again for the first time last week.”

She said those responsible were “low lifes” and were depriving children of their education.

“The children will be devastated.

“They were upset last time and also quite frightened.

“They like to feel safe and secure in school and somebody has now done this twice.

“It will have a huge impact on lessons.

“After the last burglary, we have managed to teach ICT in other ways, by using digital cameras, videos and robots, but the vast majority of the curriculum is based on computing and the internet.

“It also has an impact on the rest of our lessons, in terms of doing research and looking for images.

“We are having to do it centrally on the whiteboard instead of children working independently.

“We have also asked them to do a lot more at home, which is affecting their homework.”

She said, as the school was currently closed for half-term, she had not yet told the children, but she had e-mailed parents and appealed for witnesses to catch the culprits.

Thieves smashed a window to steal the equipment from a locked trolley.

Security guards alerted police after the alarm sounded at 5am.

All the laptops are security marked with tamper-proof labels and numbers.

Anyone who is offered a laptop, or who has information about the computers, or the raid, should call Colchester police on 101.