Vandalism And Fires Set At D'Auvergne School

Six teenagers have been arrested following a break-in and vandalism at D'Auvergne school.

Police say a group of youths broke into the St Helier primary at around 8.45 pm on Tuesday (12 December), entering through a fire door and triggering an alarm.

First responders found the top floor 'full of smoke', and evacuated immediately whilst the fire brigade attended the crime scene.

A fire had been set in a bathroom and 'fortunately' did not take to the rest of the school, but the smoke damage has been considerable.

They were arrested on the school grounds a short time later.

D'Auvergne's school hall, bathrooms and classrooms were subject to 'quite a bit' of vandalism.

Children have had their belongings broken, and displays have been ruined.

The headteacher, Sam Cooper, says it has not been pleasant.

"It's going to take a bit of cleaning.

As soon as the police have finished their work in school this morning, it's all systems go for the big clean up."

The four boys and two girls, aged between 13 and 15, have been released on bail while enquiries are ongoing.

Swear words, tags and hate symbols have also been spayed in areas on the school and on tables, with bathrooms set alight and 'messed up'.

Mr Cooper says it is all wholly inappropriate, and wholly unnecessary.

"This is a primary school, it should be a safe place for our community to come and the children should feel safe in there which is why we've avoided having the children in the building today."

The school's nursery, reception and Key Stage 1 classes are closed today (13 December).

Older children should be collected at midday. They will be going straight to church for their planned Christmas service.

The head of the school says they do not need to see this in their safe environment.

"We don't want to tarnish that impression of the school for the children, they love D'Auvergne, we've had tears from them today, we've had to reassure them.

They won't notice the difference when they come in tomorrow, it will be spick and span as it always is for them."

A social media post says the school will reopen tomorrow after the damage is cleaned up.

Parents have expressed their shock:

"So shocked that someone would do this to the school. Thank you to the (always) amazing d'Auvergne School team for keeping us informed and going the extra mile last night and with the cleanup. Fingers crossed the vandals are caught soon." - Anna

"This is so sad! Disgusting behaviour from whoever was involved Huge thanks to Mr Cooper and all the teachers for making sure our school is safe again xx" - Liam 

"Who on earth would do something like this!!!  Hope the culprits are found. Staff must be heartbroken, hope the damage isn’t too bad well done to the staff for being there last night and will be sorting out all the damage today." - Bridget.