Won’t somebody think of the children? In Eastcombe, apparently not.

News of the break-in at the village’s primary school is, frankly, textbook tragedy, and it’s hard to understate the meanness of the crime.

So hard, in fact, that it makes you wonder: how do you end up being able to stomach robbing a school in the first place?

Perhaps the thieves were just ignorant. Maybe they thought they were stealing any old cash in any old building - not funds raised by year sixes to end their time at the school with a bang rather than a sad whimper.

I think that's unlikely. They must have had some idea. And even if they didn’t intend to take pupils’ cash directly, money for replacing and repairing the school’s property would have to have come from somewhere.

But maybe that’s the saddest part of all - knowing this, yet still doing the crime anyway. Depraved? Or, quite possibly, just desperate?

All that’s certain for now is that Eastcombe leavers can no longer afford their trip. Let's put this right and pay for Year 6s to go.

If you're interested, get in touch with the school office on 01452 770227 or admin@eastcombe.gloucs.sch.uk