A BRIEF HISTORY OF HAUTLIEU SCHOOL

Hautlieu has come a long way since the original Wellington Road site opened its doors to its first 329 male students on 29th September 1952. In that year, the first UK singles chart was released, Anne Frank’s Diary was published in English and the UK gained a new queen - Jersey’s new “Duke.” 2022 was a platinum jubilee year for both Queen Elizabeth and Hautlieu. In what turned out to be a year of both celebration and commemoration, we reflect on life at Hautlieu during its first 70 years.

Originally a boys-only school, Hautlieu’s primary purpose was to provide free education for “able” 11–18-year-old students whose families could not afford to send them to one of Jersey’s fee-paying schools. It shared this broad aim with three other secondary modern schools set up around that time: Les Quennevais, Le Rocquier and Rouge Boullion - Hautlieu’s sister school for girls until the two establishments merged from 1963.

A pre-opening report in the Jersey Evening Post of 25th February 1952 described Hautlieu as, “...an amazingly fine school, which “when completed, will undoubtedly be far ahead of anything this island has hitherto provided in the educational sphere”.

In 1953, most students hoping to study at Hautlieu were required to pass an 11+ style examination. That said, the school’s first head teacher, Charles Brown, also placed a great deal of emphasis on vocational pursuits to promote a ‘rounded education’; this resulted in the introduction of many extra-curricular activities, such as a debating society, film, art, and chess clubs. There were also many sporting activities that took place on fields behind the school, then owned by St Saviour’s Church and now the site of the current building. Most remarkably, the school had its own outdoor swimming pool which hosted island-wide inter-mural competitions.

Academic success soon came to Hautlieu, with O-Level and A-Level results that rivalled those attained by comparative schools in the UK. The resulting need expand the range of subjects offered, led to the beginning of the merger between Hautlieu boys’ school and Rouge Boullion girls’ school in the same year, starting with the Sixth Form.

One female pupil had already been admitted in 1960 to take advantage of Hautlieu’s science facilities, but the full switch to a single co-educational establishment under the Hautlieu name would not be completed until 1966. Indeed, it took until 1972 for the move to a single building to be complete, with teachers and students commuting between the sites on Brighton Road and Wellington Road.

In the interim, Hautlieu’s original building needed to be refurbished and expanded to accommodate the rise in pupil numbers from 350 to 650. Improvements made between 1968 and 1972 included a new dining room, new sixth form and middle school blocks, better facilities for Art, Music, Geography and Science, and perhaps most importantly: girls’ and women’s toilets!

For ten years after the merger, Hautlieu’s girls more than met the school’s tradition of academic achievement by consistently matching and in many cases outperforming the boys in most disciplines.

Hautlieu’s founding Headteacher, Charles Brown, retired and was succeeded by Jack Worrall in 1976. Mr Worrall presided over a period which saw all the remaining founding teachers retire by the mid-1980s. Brian Bullock then took over as Headteacher in 1988 just before the introduction of the new GCSE examinations. As a result of its academic reputation, the school had seen its 16+ numbers rise steadily until, by the early 1990s, almost 400 students occupied buildings that were designed to accommodate 120.

Lesley Toms. a former student, became Hautlieu’s first female head teacher in 1998. Her Headship marked the creation of a new school building that would be big enough to accommodate all who wanted a place. This was especially important at a time of upheaval in the examination structure: namely, the introduction of “Curriculum 2000” which split A level qualifications into an AS/A2 exam series. Shortly after this, construction on the new Oakfield site located behind the original site began in 2001.

This light, airy symbol for the new millennium opened its doors to students for the first time in April 2004.

Once complete, the old building, which had served Hautlieu well for half a century, was demolished to make way for the current Oakfield sports centre and playing pitches which have recently been renovated.

The larger building allowed for the return of many vocational and creative subjects to the range offered to students, including those offered under the International Baccalaureate programme.

In what was clearly a conscious effort to move away from the elegant but staid architecture of the original 1950s’ building, the architects of the current structure offered a bold, neo-deco design that created the impression of an aeroplane in flight.

The 2000s and beyond saw the introduction of the School Prom and large-scale cultural exchange visits by international schools such as Bayi from China and Oregon International School from the USA. But many Hautlieu traditions remained like the (in)famous “Chique (rag) Week,” lavish whole-school Drama Productions, Sports Day, and the Senior Citizen’s Party. Whilst certain aspects of school life now would perhaps be unrecognisable to those 329 boys who joined the school in 1952, what they would recognise is a thriving community of over 100 staff and 800 independent-minded students who continue to make the school the unique place that it was when it first opened its doors 70 years ago.