Children at a Southampton primary school have raised more than $500 to help a preschool damaged in a fire.

Pupils from Port Royal Primary collected the cash from a grub day held to help Warwick Preschool, which was hit by a blaze four months ago.

The money will be used to buy equipment for the school.

Josiah Tannock, 10, said: “It is important because they had a fire so they couldn’t really do anything except for probably clean it up.

“We thought it was a good idea to give them a donation so that they could get all the stuff to repair the classroom.”

He added: “They were really happy and grateful because of the money raised for them to buy new things for the class.

“It made me feel good because I knew I was helping other people in need in our community.”

Marsha Rollins, the vice-principal and a Primary 2 teacher at Port Royal, said that community service was an important part of the school’s ethos.

She said: “I am the organiser for community services at the school and when I heard that there had been a fire, I thought, let’s give of ourselves.”

Jennifer DeRosa Holder, the administrator at Warwick Preschool, added: “The children were excited to know that the children at Port Royal had raised funds for them. We will be able to purchase some educational toys for the classroom.

“We are really appreciative of Port Royal — our schools already have a great partnership through the community service that we do.”

Port Royal also launched a toy drive to help the Salvation Army’s Christmas work.

Ms Rollins said the pupils came up with the idea after she read to them a book called Thanks for Giving.

Aaliyah Steede, 6, said: “We read a book and it inspired us to do something for children less fortunate than us.

“We decided to have a toy drive, so we went to our houses and we asked our parents to buy some toys.”

She added: “I brought in a toy that you need a phone or a tablet to play with — it’s a unicorn you can send messages to and it will talk back to you.”

Ms Rollins said: “We talk about being respectful, responsible, safe and ready to learn — these are the core school rules island-wide. It makes such a difference.”