Thieves ruin school children’s hard work
SCHOOLCHILDREN are upset after flowers they planted with young offenders to solve parking problems were stolen within a few hours.
Children at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School helped devise a scheme to solve parking issues around the school after complaints from neighbours.
They planted lavender and hebes alongside autumnal coloured bushes on the verges to encourage parents to park more considerably.
But thieves took the plants the evening they had been planted (Sunday September 30)
Headteacher Bernadette Connor said: “The children have worked so hard for the best part of eight months, they were really sad about it. They asked ‘did the robbers take them?’ They just felt their work hadn’t been respected.”
Ms Connor said the whole school community was deeply saddened by the theft.
As well as discouraging dangerous parking on the grass verges and on residents’ drivesways the shrubs were intended to improve the area with vivid colours and fragrant smells.
Ms Connor said: “The nurseries gave us beautiful plants, hebes, lavender, nice smelling flowers and Autumnal bushes that would really give some colour to the school environment. They would have cost about £130 but they gave them to us for £100.”
Sited on a main raid and taking in children from all over Crawley and beyond the school had to find a solution to problem-parking after the complaints.
The children helped develop a ‘parking promise plan’ to encourage more consideration for neighbours, with the help of travel advisors from West Sussex County Council.
The school also enlisted the help of young offenders in a community payback scheme who put in the planters during Sunday surgeries.
The school may run a fundraising day to buy new flowers.
It has also asked parents to donate any unwanted flowers from their own gardens.
Ms Connor added: “The children have worked so hard on this project and will be planting some more shrubs to make our local environment a lovelier place for everybody.”
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Weather for Crawley
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
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