A school will be forced to rake out hundreds of pounds to replace equipment from their garden after an overnight theft.

Bosses at Lancaster School on Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff, were alarmed to discover that plastic from their polytunnel - a type of greenhouse - had been cut away by the "neat" crook, before the fraudster escaped without triggering the alarms.

Headteacher Tom Jackson-Owens says the few hundreds of pounds it will cost to replace the material could have been used to provide equipment for the school's new sensory room- a therapeutic space for students with special needs.

He explained: "It was only when the caretaker came in the next morning that we found out.

"Unfortunately that particular area doesn't trigger the alarms, but we caught the thief on CCTV.

"It's one thing finding out that it happened, but entirely another to watch it with your own eyes. You almost have a sense of disbelief.

"In the footage you can see someone jumping over the fence and cutting the plastic away on the polytunnel, before putting it in their backpack and leaving.

"The thief neatly moved things and strangely enough they left the frame behind.

"Some of the staff are understandably upset, it's really disappointing for us."

He continued: "Gardening is one of the things our kids love doing, and classes go out there to plant at least once a week- it helps relax them and helps them with all important skills like work-related learning.

"We would have used it to get special equipment for our new sensory room, which the kids with special educational needs and learning difficulties could then use.

"Although it will cost a few hundred to replace, in the current climate money is tough for everyone, so it is frustrating."

Mr Jackson-Owens is now hoping to make other schools aware, and is urging anyone with any information to please get in touch with police.

He added: "We suspect it happened overnight on September 21. They definitely waited until it was dark and when everything was packed up.

"We're really disappointed that someone would want to set anyone back like this, but especially a school.

"Thankfully we have fundraising events planned for the sensory room, like quiz nights, a summer music festival on the school playground, but we will have to see what happens.

"To go from such a high of having 90 per cent of our kids back, with the exception of some who are very vulnerable, along with all our staff, it is sad.

"It's not been normal, we haven't had any assemblies or mixing, but as of yet we haven't had one confirmed case of Covid-19 which is fantastic news- the morale needs to be kept up.

"We want to make others aware- my message to the public is look after your school, look after your kids."

Anyone with information is asked to contact 101, quoting crime reference 42/152680/20.