An outdoor education centre and forest school has been targeted by thieves using bolt cutters to steal thousands of pounds worth of equipment.

The boss of the Willowbanks Education Centre in Chislet near Herne Bay says the break-in had “robbed, literally” children of the chance to “access quality outdoor education”.

But he said he had been overwhelmed by support from the community and offers of help to rebuild and get the centre up and running again.

The thieves used boltcutters to get in under the guise of the high winds on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday acting as cover to any noise made.

It is thought they approached the site between 2am and 4am.

The centre is a passion project for owner Patrick Kelleher who quit his job as a deputy head to pursue this opportunity three years ago.

The 42-year-old said: “We lost all our fishing rods, nets and tackles, they even took our maggots and bait.

“They also targeted my trailer. We’re tucked out the way on a lake so they must’ve known we were there.

“All this means the pupils haven’t been able to fish so we have just been doing forest school.

“Last week the lake was frozen so it has meant we couldn’t fish for two weeks now.”

It is believed the total cost of the equipment stolen was between £2,000-£3,000.

CCTV footage of the thieves was taken and has been handed to police who have confirmed they are investigating.

A spokesperson said: “It was reported that padlocks to the main gate were cut and two storage areas broken into, one of which contained a quantity of fishing equipment.”

Mr Kelleher currently works with nine schools in the area which utilise his facilities and teaches the students outdoors skills and fishing.

Despite losing all fishing equipment get says his spirit was not perturbed.

He continued: “It’s been quite overwhelming the support we have received.

“What’s been encouraging is the feedback online and people saying how they love what we do and how we do it.

“A company has been in touch and said they are happy to help replace our equipment at basically half price of retail value which is very generous.

“I have had emails from kids as well saying how sorry they are to hear things had been stolen

“Police have been very helpful too. We have had forensics come and they took the clothing left behind and looked at CCTV but we are yet to hear anything.

“It's just stuff at the end of the day and they may take our things but our ethos will be there.”

Inquiries into the incident are ongoing. Anyone with information should report it online to police at www.kent.police.uk/report quoting reference 46/11773/24.

In an earlier post on the school’s Facebook page appealing to the thieves, Mr Kelleher said: “If those who took from us were driven by a desire for equipment to pursue their passion, we want to emphasise that as an organisation, we would have been willing to support such endeavours.

“In response to these challenging circumstances, we are resolute in our commitment to rebuild and persist in our unwavering support for those who rely on us.”