St Leonard’s Day Nursery in Sheffield is asking for local businesses and the community to help with repair costs after vandals smashed windows and caused substantial damage to the building yesterday.

The nursery in Longley has had to close today and manager Lynne Cotton said the incident now “jeopardises the future of the nursery” as they do not have the money to repair the damage.

Damage to windows at St Leonard’s Day Nursery

Ms Cotton told Sheffield Wire: “The people who did this have got to be children from our area and are possibly even children that we have looked after. It’s such a shame and it’s so sad that people thinking something like that is a fun thing to do.

“We’ve been here for nearly 30 years and we’ve never really had that much trouble. But this is a local-based business, serving the community, and we really can’t afford it.”

A photograph posted by the nursery on Facebook shows two young boys at a fence outside the building, who they believe to be responsible for the vandalism.

Parents and carers were notified last night of the closure this morning and it is not known yet when the nursery will re-open.

Other parts of the church building, which are not designed for educational use, will have to be used by staff when the nursery does open its doors again after a clean-up operation today.

Anyone with any information about the incident should contact South Yorkshire Police on 101.