The power of social media has been shown after a Tauranga school was burgled in the weekend.

Greerton Village School is thanking the community for their assistance to locate those responsible for the burglary of a number of items from a classroom.

The school took to Facebook on Sunday night seeking information from the community about the burglary.

'Please can you all be detectives and keep an eye and ear out for any information about 10 iPads stolen out of a locked cupboard in room nine today.

'The classroom was trashed and the iPad covers were ripped off and left out on the room eight and nine deck. Late yesterday (Saturday) a window was also smashed in room 10.”

Deputy Principal Reuban Ginns says the break-in is disappointing.

'This happened during the day on Saturday, two classrooms were broken into, one window was jimmied open and the other window was smashed.

'They got in and smashed the locks into cupboards where we keep our iPads, 16 or more iPads were taken in total.

'The break in has happened in our year's three and four classrooms and at the moment some of the children are actually scared over what has happened.

'It's absolutely gut-wrenching the fact someone has been through our school out of hours. We actually have gates which are closed out of hours, but whoever has done this has just jumped the fence.”

Rueban says police have located a number suspects, believed to be a group of youths, aged between 10 and 15 years old.

'The parents of one child who has been accused, actually brought that child into the school to apologise.

'We've managed to retain nine of the stolen items however they were left under a bush overnight and it rained quite heavily so they have completely crashed.”

Reuban says the children are absolutely gutted.

'They use them daily in group work and for their learning so at the moment these two classrooms are going without.

'All of the work they have done so far is saved to the devices, and there's no way of retaining that now.

'The iPads are owned by the school so at the moment we're working through putting a claim through and deciding if our school is financially capable of replacing the items.

'We actually hosted an assembly about the break-in and one child suggested each class offer one iPad from their class room for students to use in the meantime.”

He thanks the community for their assistance.

'Within a few hours of us making the post we had people contacting us saying they might know who did it, so we really appreciate all the help.

'It's really taught us the need to be vigilant. If you live near or happen to be around the school after-hours and something is happening that makes you feel uneasy, we are urging you, please call the police.”