Select a region
Mont à l'Abbé's biggest annual fundraising event will not be going ahead this year due to concerns that the school's vulnerable pupils would not be sufficiently protected against covid.
The specialist school's yearly Christmas Bazaar welcomes up to 1,000 guests each year.
The Government’s Covid Safe Team were asked to undertake a risk assessment of the event.
A spokesperson told Express that the team advised the event should not go ahead due to the number of expected attendees and the subsequent risk to the pupils, many of whom are unvaccinated, and have disabilities or underlying conditions placing them in Jersey’s highest risk category.
There were also concerns about whether sufficient mitigations could be put in place in the venue, and the deep cleans that may be required afterwards.
In an update email sent last week, the Friends of Mont à l’Abbé, who are involved in organising the event, said: “We know that this will cause great disappointment and inconvenience but the matter was taken out of our hands.
“We know that the this popular event (which was the biggest we have put together) will be missed by the island community who give us exceptional support in attending.”
They added that the cancellation of the event will have a “big impact” on their fundraising, but noted: “Hopefully at some future date we will be in a position to hold events to raise funds for local children who face special needs and disabilities that attend the school.”
They also said that the raffle would still be going ahead, and that logistics for selling tickets without an event were being worked out.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.