A crime-blighted nursery school in Bradford has been given an early Christmas present with a gift of toys from the YMCA charity.

After a spate of break-ins, thefts and attacks of vandalism, St Mary’s Community Nursery in Wyke had to spend £500 given by parents on security instead of toys in November.

Staff at the YMCA Bradford, who are moving premises, decided to help the nursery after reading about its plight in the Telegraph & Argus.

The nursery’s managing director Claire Cooper said: “The children will be thrilled. It’s nice to know there are more nice people out there than people who want to destroy things and make things difficult. It makes you realise what nice people there are when bad things happen.

“The local police have been great – they have been about three or four times since the last incident to check on us and on the area. There has been no more trouble since it happened – fingers crossed it’ll stay that way. I think the snow has stopped them coming which is a good thing.”

The school was targeted by vandals four times in the six months leading up to November, with storage boxes destroyed and toys, garden tools and children’s bikes stolen.

Staff said they were devastated by the series of attacks, because they could not afford to replace the items themselves.

The YMCA is due to move into Culture Fusion, a state-of-the-art centre for young people, in Thornton Road, next autumn.

A spokesman said: “As part of the process of preparing for our move next year we are sorting through what we have in our current buildings. We gathered a lot of toys and games together and when the staff and young people we work with saw this story in the Telegraph & Argus it seemed obvious what we should do.

“This way they can pay for more security but still get some toys that the parents and staff originally raised the money for.”