A HALSTEAD school which was targeted by selfish thieves has been amazed after an unprecedented showing of support from the public.

The Gosfield School on Halstead Road in Gosfield was rocked last week after burglars broke in to their kitchens, stealing more than £6000 worth of food and equipment.

Breaking in late on Friday 20 March, the crime was reported to the police on the Monday.

Taking four chest freezers along with all the food they were storing, the criminals also took all the schools dried food and cleaned out the fridges of everything they had.

Essex Police arrived on the scene and have since conducted forensics at the school although they are still appealing for information.

Posting about the theft on Facebook and social media, the story soon got mainstream media attention.

Now the school are simply amazed after a strong showing of support from the public.

A Gosfield School spokesman said: "In the immediate aftermath the School saw an unprecedented reaction to the initial Facebook post.

"This has now been viewed over 2 million times and shared all over the world.

"As a result we have seen a phenomenal response to our pleas for restocking our kitchens so that we could continue to feed the families who are still attending school due to their parents being critical workers.

"Our faith in humankind has been restored and we would like to extend our gratitude to each and every business and individual who have offered kind words of support, food and donations of catering equipment."

Among the support show to the school were generous donations by members of the community.

Still remaining open to to the families of critial workers, the school was in desperate need of food, barely having enough to support demand.

Thankfully the Pavilion restaurant in Colchester stepped up to donate spare food to the school.

The restaurant were soon joined by First Catering Equipment Ltd in Rayleigh who gave the school a brand new freezer.

Delivered by Price Transport, the school have since been able to find stability, although much still needs to be done.

As of Thursday last week, the school have set up a Go Fund ME page to assist with the replacement of item and food for their kitchen.

To donate, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-our-kitchen.