Children returned to pre-school today after it was targeted by vandals over the festive period.

Police are investigating a report of criminal damage at Poplar Pre-School in Poplar Drive in Maidstone in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Sheelagh Fuller, manager of the pre-school, spoke about the effect of the disturbance on the charity day care centre.

She said: "On New Year's night, a group of young people entered the grounds of the preschool.

"One of the boys, wearing a high vis jacket, took a chair from the playhouse and smashed it on top of the bin outside the gates.

"The same boy took fruit from the bird table and threw it at the preschool and then kicked the table until it snapped off at the bottom and he threw it outside our ground.

"He then cut the cable ties holding the toy phone box to the house and dragged it out onto the field."

Unfortunately, this was not the first time the pre-school has been vandalised.

Only last month, on Wednesday, December 5, Mrs Fuller saw several boys breaking a plastic slide and urinating through the fence on CCTV.

Mrs Fuller continued: "We managed to fix the slide the first time and I understand it is such a small incident for the police to worry about, but it has upset us all.

"I need to look over the CCTV footage and see if it is the same kids as before."

Mrs Fuller estimates the damage to the school to be around £200.

She said:"I just want those responsible to be identified and for them to realise what they've done.

"£200 does not sound like a lot of damage but we're a charity and you have to do a lot of fundraising to afford to buy the equipment."

A spokesman for Kent Police confirmed that the damage occurred between midnight on Monday, December 31 and 12.15pm on Tuesday, January 1.

"Play equipment was removed from the pre-school and put in a nearby field. Some of it was damaged beyond repair."

If anyone has any information, please contact Kent Police on 01622 604100 quoting reference 46/569/19.