VANDALS broke into Broad Town Primary School over the festive break and stole gas from cylinders, with police linking the incident to others in the area.

The break-in happened sometime between breaking up for Christmas on December 16 to January 3, but police believe January 2 may have been the most probable day.

Headteacher Bridget Long said the discovery was made on the first day back of the new school term where teachers found the vandals had broken the chain securing the gas cylinders together.

She said: “We discovered it when we came back because a teacher said she thought she had no gas because the heating wasn’t working and that is when we went outside to discover the caging had been tampered with.

“We set up the hall as a classroom and we even turned a work room into a learning space so the children’s lessons weren’t affected.

“We have had problems with our heating before and so not having any was something we know how to handle and we knew we needed to get some more ordered.

“It arrived by 10am and the children’s education was back on track. It could have been worse but thankfully we didn’t have to close the school which we are so fortunate for.”

The small school, of only three classes made up from 75 pupils, fell victim to a break-in five years ago when a gas cylinder was removed resulting in staff stepping up their security measures. Now, they have said they will do the same to prevent anything similar happening again.

Police have said if anyone saw or heard anything which they think could be related to the incident, or if anyone has any home CCTV which they feel may have captured something relevant to their investigation, then they urge them to please get in touch by calling 101.

Police also confirmed this week that they are also investigating two other thefts involving gas at where thieves walked away with a red 47kg propane cylinder from Marlborough Road, Royal Wootton Basset on January 2 and a cylinder stolen from Woottons in Pewsey which happened on Saturday.