Children in Oxford must wait five months for a renovated play area because teachers fear vandals and thieves plan to strike again.

Offenders stole fence posts and childrens benches from Shepherd's Hill Pre-School in Blackbird Leys last Thursday.

The raid left sharp posts sticking out of the ground, meaning it was too dangerous to let children play.

This week Blackbird Leys Parish Council stepped in with an emergency grant to repair the damage and replace the fence posts and benches.

But teachers have vowed not to spend the cash until September.

Pre-school manager Jo Rooney said: "I don't want anyone to come along and rip up the fencing again.

"We are going to wait until everyone has calmed down a bit. I would hate them to come back.

"It's really sad. The garden was looking nice and it had taken a long time to get it like that.

"When the children saw the damage I had to tell them some horrible people had stolen it.

"It has been really nice, people ringing me up and saying 'we can give you the money'.

"But I just don't like the thought of going through it all again so soon."

The pre-school now plans to keep the money until the end of the summer holiday before restoring the garden to its former glory.

Blackbird Leys Parish Council agreed to hand over £200 on Monday, (May 16) after hearing of the devastation caused by the vandals.

The pre-school will use the donation to buy a new row of fence posts for the sensory garden, a picnic table and children's bench.

Parish council chairman Brian Lester said: "We agreed unanimously to give the money to the pre-school and hopefully it will make good the losses."

The pre-school installed security fencing three years ago after a playhouse was subjected to a spate of break-ins.

Vandals virtually destroyed the playhouse in 2002, kicking out the sides and smashing a large hole in the roof by jumping on it.