School has Unicef student rights award renewed

A Jersey school had its accredition renewed as a Silver Rights Respecting School by the UN agency for children, Unicef.

Hautlieu School said its commitment to promoting children's rights and encouraging adults, children, and young people to respect the rights of others, reflected its culture.

Unicef said the status is "granted to schools that make good progress towards embedding the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into their ethos and curriculum".

Headteacher Mandy Campbell said student council work, and involvement in policy development showed that "students are now making decisions which really affect the way they are living their life at school".

Assistant head Lauren Devine said weekly meetings, feedback forms, and open drop‑ins gave students the space to bring ideas, raise issues, and push for change.

She added: "It's been evolving over the last two years and we're really keen to give some of our younger students opportunities to have a leadership role within the school."

Students said that the chance to be heard mattered.

Alex said: "I think the teachers, when they went to school, it was very different to how it is now.

"And I think that getting the students voice to be heard is very important, because the teachers, their vision of a perfect school would be different to the students'."

Aidan said he joined the student council because "it allows students to be heard, so that school is more of a place where students feel like they belong".

He said the school council was currently focusing on sustainability, adding that students are pushing for more recycling.

Scott said he recently suggested a student‑led newsletter and that the group was now planning its launch.

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