Sadly, in the early hours of Friday morning vandals broke into our school site and burnt our newly-built outdoor classroom to the ground. This outdoor teaching area included a shelter where our children, all of whom have special needs, could work closely with the animals as part of our animal care lessons. Our donkeys were also deliberately let out of their enclosure and escaped through the gap that had been left in the school fence. Fortunately they were later found, although they were very distressed and were wandering in the rush hour traffic. Luckily they are not physically hurt as they have been taken to safety by the police, but we now have to pay to get them back home to the children.

Along with our other animals, our donkeys Edward and Isaac are dearly loved by the children at St Luke's. Not only is working with the animals therapeutic for our children, but they also develop vocational skills that can help them to secure employment after they complete their education. The classroom was funded through years of fundraising projects by the school community, alongside outdoor learning funding. The raised classroom offered pupils views over the animal enclosures and meadows, and had to be purpose-built to be wheelchair accessible, to ensure that all of our children were able to benefit, regardless of their disabilities.
Please help us to raise the money needed to bring our donkeys home and rebuild our classroom. The money raised will also be used to buy new metal fencing, and replace the animals' food and grooming equipment.
We had lots of devastated children at school yesterday, and it would mean so much to be able to show that although there are some awful people in the world, that there are many, many more amazing people who really do care about them.