Knife among mess left by playground intruders

Wednesday 16 October 2019

A school and nursery in St. Brelade have been targeted by vandals in a spate of break-ins that have left play areas used by children trashed with litter, tobacco, broken glass - and even a knife.

La Moye Primary School has been a longstanding sufferer of vandalism.

In 2016, one of the school’s own teachers invited pupils to join him on a 3K fun run to raise money for repairs to damaged and defaced property. 

But, three years later, the problem hasn’t gone away, with the school still seeing “locked sheds being broken into, vandalism, items being taken or broken, and debris left onsite, including broken glass and tobacco”, according to Headteacher John Baudains.

Pictured: La Moye Primary School.

The Head told Express that he has therefore been forced to contact the Police and Honorary Police on several occasions, and must “regularly identify the culprits from our CCTV footage”. 

With the problem having flared up, Mr Baudains urged parents to be vigilant and to report any suspicious behaviour in his summer newsletter. 

It noted that, on one occasion, a knife had even been found on the school premises.

Pictured: An extract from the La Moye newsletter, warning parents to look out for suspicious activity.

But, despite the heightened vigilance in the area, problems have flared up again this term.

One La Moye parent told Express that her children had reported having to pick up rubbish in the playground while at school. 

“I have also personally noticed an increase in rubbish at Les Creux, as well as the Railway Walk (in between the Les Quennevais cycle track and La Moye golf course specifically,” she added. 

Pictured: La Moye School's Headteacher says he regularly has to review CCTV.

And now it appears another school is being targeted.

Pre-school Communicare, which has been running in the area since the 70s, said that its garden has been broken into weekly since the beginning of the term, leading to the damage and destruction of equipment funded by “hard-working parent committees”, staff and families. 

In an alert posted to Facebook last week, the Communicare team wrote: “For a long time now, our outdoor area has continually been broken into. We have had our main storage shed, which contains outdoor resources flooded, resulting in many items being ruined. 

“The large wooden playhouse which was a leaving thank you gift from parents has been vandalised numerous times, (windows broken, drinks poured inside, tobacco everywhere). The perimeter fence has also been damaged by people breaking in… We have had enough!!!”

Pictured: Communicare in St. Brelade has also been affected.

The post further explained that, on Wednesday evening last week, one of the staff members had come face-to-face with the culprits. 

“…A member of staff was passing the building and went to check the garden as these issues often happen on a Wednesday night and over the weekend. She heard voices and caught a group of teenagers in the shed. They had taken our bench and a table inside. There were lighters and a pouch of tobacco on the table.” 

Echoing La Moye’s message, they told parents: “If you are a neighbour of our Pre- School, or even if you are just passing by, please can we ask that you have a look and a listen and report anything you think is suspicious to the Police?”