STAFF and students at an education centre have been left ‘devastated’ by the theft of three motorbikes.

The Dorchester Learning Centre, at Monkton Park, provides education and support for all children who find themselves outside of mainstream education.

Staff and pupils returned after the recent half-term break to find that three motorcycles, worth around £3,500, had been stolen.

The bikes are used to help educate students on mechanics, with them working to put them together, take them apart and maintain them.

The students also get to ride them and the bikes are used to encourage them to engage in their other studies as well as getting them practical qualifications to help them move forward in their education.

On return from half-term, the secure unit that was used to house the bikes was found broken in to and three of the bikes were missing.

Steve Campbell, is the project leader working with the bikes.

He said: “This is our second break-in in a year and our fourth in five years.

“We have students who work on the mechanical side of the bikes and they also get the chance to go out riding.

“They get hands on qualifications, it helps them with the practical side of it. It also helps them to get in to places like Weymouth and College.

“It’s gutting for us and the students for all the work they put in.

“These guys love being able to get out and running these bikes.”

As well as the time and effort but in to running the bikes, the school has to gather donations and raise funds to run the project.

Steve is appealing to anyone who knows anything to get in touch with police or the school and also appealed for anyone who may be able to help with the long-term or short-term donations to get in touch.

Wallace Lee, who helps with the project, said he was “so angry” when he discovered the bikes had been taken.

One student, Will Baldwin, said he was “devastated” that the bikes had been taken.

A Dorset Police spokesman said that they received a report from the Dorchester Learning Centre of the theft of three motorbikes.

He said that the bikes were taken from a shed at the grounds between February 10 and February 20, during the school half-term.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police on 101 and to quote crime number 20:53.