Manawatū school forced to close after thieves smashed up classrooms and stole electronics

A Manawatū school has been forced to close after vandals trashed classrooms at the weekend and stole valuable electronic equipment.

Principal of Ruahine School in Dannevirke, Sarah McCord, says she and teachers were feeling "frustrated" and "upset" after arriving to the school this morning to find it in ruins.

"It's jolly frightening when a teacher arrives and walks into that in the morning, we are all feeling quite frustrated. It's just so unfair that people would do this to children," said McCord.

McCord didn't want to go into too much detail of what was stolen but said items included televisions and the school cellphone.

All up she said thousands of dollars worth of school property was taken or ruin.

Students were sent home this morning so that teachers could tidy up.

"When the children got off the bus, we had to ring parents, we could even send texts out because they took the school cellphone, so we had to ring and Facebook the parents to pick the children up," said McCord.

She said police were at the school examining the scene.

Principal of Ruahine School Sarah McCord glass had been smashed all over the floors. Photo / Supplied

"The teachers will all start cleaning up, making everything look nice so that when the children come back tomorrow, they can feel like their school is safe, they are safe and everything is okay."

The school has a roll of 167 students, and there are just seven classrooms.

McCord says the school and wider community have been really supportive.

"We have amazing parents - we've had morning tea bought to us, we've had coffee bought to us, we've had people offering to help... the Dannevirke community is just outstanding," she said.

Police confirmed the incident had been reported to them.

"Inquiries are ongoing to determine the circumstances/locate those responsible."

The incident comes after a Government announcement relating to a spike in ram raids was made yesterday.

More than $550 million more for frontline police, a new firearms unit and a package to help businesses protect themselves from ram raids has been promised in a Government Budget pre-announcement.

Police Minister Poto Williams made the announcements in Auckland alongside Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Justice Minister Kris Faafoi.

Police and Corrections will get $562 million over four years.

"We've all seen the news recently on gangs and ram raids," Faafoi said at the outset of a press conference yesterday.

"New Zealanders have a right to a justice system that makes our communities safe."