Thieves grab $10,000 in gear from Solway

SCHOOL VICTIMS: Solway Primary School was hit by burglars for the second time in a week yesterday morning. Teacher Steve Hornby and pupils Sarah Ward (left), 11, Maddie Ashwell, 10, and Mack Pearce, 10, with empty iPad covers that were left behind. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Thieves have stolen close to $10,000 worth of computer and digital gear during two raids on Solway Primary School in the past week, said principal Gail Marshall.

Mrs Marshall said thieves seem to have stolen the gear to order and had twice raided the school - overnight last Thursday and again in the early hours of yesterday morning.

She said the school, which had a roll of 205 pupils, had been looted of close to $10,000 worth of equipment during the raids.

Gear that was taken included a teacher's laptop, four iPads, a half-dozen HP notebook minis, three digital cameras, an iPod, a flat screen monitor, a data projector and a pair of walkie-talkies.

Mrs Marshall said thieves had forced open a fire door and windows on three classrooms at the southern end of the school.

Special education pupils at the school treasured the iPads, which had been bought this year using a grant from the Prime Community Trust, and the suite of apps the computers contained, she said.

The HP notebooks were likewise vital to daily lessons for the classrooms that were hit, she said, and despite insurance the equipment would be difficult to replace for the decile 6 school.

She said the iPod contained all of the music for the upcoming school production, The Button Box, although she is hoping that same data had been backed up and will be retrieved.

"We can't afford to just go out and buy new iPads. We've been waiting close to 10 years to get such good hardware and now we need help to replace what we've lost," she said.

Mrs Marshall was sure the thieves had been stealing to order after they took a single data projector last week and left behind three similar machines during their second raid yesterday.

"It's almost like the thieves had a list, like they were stealing to order. They've got everything so they needn't bother coming back," the principal said.