History
Construction of Hautlieu's first building began on the 18 April 1951 and was officially opened on the 5 April 1952, and was originally a boys' grammar school until the admission of its first female student in 1960.
The school motto is "Summa Petamus", which means "Aim for the highest".
Hautlieu's four school houses, D’Auvergne, Dumaresq, Carteret and Millais, take their names from prominent figures in the history of Jersey.
Philip d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, cut a dashing figure in the time of the French Revolution as a spymaster and organiser of Royalist resistance in France from his base in the Island; Sir Jean Dumaresq was a radical reforming Magot politician in the 18th century at a time when the Island was riven by party divisions; Carteret or more properly de Carteret is an ancient Jersey name, but the family’s foremost son is George Carteret, Vice-chamberlain of King Charles II’s household and Treasurer of the Navy; Millais was Sir John Everett Millais, the great 19th century painter.
When girls were introduced to Hautlieu from Rouge Bouillon School, the house names were altered to incorporate the names of the girls’ houses. They became Future Millais, Rogers Carteret, Grandin D’Auvergne and Harrison Dumaresq.
For much of Hautlieu’s history its houses were central to school life. There were inter-house sporting competitions throughout all three terms and house sports jerseys silver-grey for Millais, dark blue for Carteret, red for Dumaresq and yellow-gold for D’Auvergne were worn with partisan pride. In more recent years, because of the changing structure of the school and the fashion for concentration on academic work to the exclusion of sports, the house system has fallen into abeyance.
Headteachers
- Charles Brown - 1952-1976
- Jack Worrall - 1976-1988
- Brian Bullock - 1988-1996
- Lesley Toms - 1996-
Anniversary supplement
On 15 September 2002 the Jersey Evening Post published a supplement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the school. [1] This extract was written by former Hautlieu student, teacher and parent Rob Shipley.
- Today Hautlieu is a school with an established reputation for meeting the needs of academically able students. That, however, is far removed from the ideas which led to the school’s foundation in 1952. Throughout the first half of the 20th century Victoria College and the Jersey College for Girls were held to be sufficient for the Island’s needs in respect of academic education. True, in 1929 the States Intermediate School was added to Jersey’s educational resources, but its curriculum and staffing levels were not intended to cope with advanced studies. That said, it was co-educational, surprisingly progressive in other ways and a superb training ground for teachers who subsequently taught at Hautlieu.
- By the late 1940s it became apparent that new secondary facilities were needed for the children of families who could not afford the colleges or other private schools. In spite of this, the two schools which were planned one for boys and one for girls were not intended to be grammar schools. Strange and divisive as it may now seem, the emphasis was to be on producing artisans rather than high-flyers who might be expected to go on to further education. In February 1950 plans took a major step forward when the States voted £155,000 for a boys’ school to be built on the site of Hautlieu Farm at the top of Wellington Road. The early 1950s equivalent of the Education Committee, the rather pompously named Public Instruction Committee, led by Deputy E H Le Brocq, made their case in the House by highlighting the overcrowding prevalent in States elementary schools, where many pupils remained until the age of 14.
- An article published in the Evening Post actually referred to the planned school as a ‘secondary modern’ and it was accepted that as well as focusing on technical skills, the new establishment would take boys only up to the age of 15 and, therefore, there would be no sixth form. On Tuesday 17 April 1951 work began at the Hautlieu Farm site. CW Construction (Jersey) Ltd were the contractors and after only 18 months’ work a period which included the demolition of old farm buildings and notoriously rugged German bunkers the new school was ready to accept pupils. In 1952 the newly built school found a new, able and enthusiastic champion. Deputy John Le Marquand was elected president of the Public Instruction Committee and at once began to counter claims that too much had been spent on the school and that its facilities were in excess of those required to teach the sons of the working class.
- Without Deputy Le Marquand’s wholehearted support, it is very doubtful whether Hautlieu would have made the rapid transition from limited secondary modern status to fully fledged grammar school as quickly as it did. In May 1952 staff appointments were announced. Headmaster Charles Brown was to lead a team consisting of Leslie Gale, F McKim, John Gale, Maurice Lakeman, G S Powell, Harry Aubin, D R Perchard, J C Kezourec, Jack Etienne, J D Laird, Ray Reed, Arthur Moore, Jack Clarke, B T Davies, Bill Egglishaw, J P Le Quesne and E R Holmes.
New building
In 2001 the States approved the construction of a new building and work started the following year. The old school closed at the end of the 2004 spring term and the staff and pupils moved across the road to the new building at the start of the summer term. Shortly after work started on the demolition of the old school.
External links
Demolition of the old building
The new school building
Hautlieu School pool
Hautlieu School from the air
1977
Notes and references
- ↑ The supplement was previously available on the newspaper's website, but has now been removed
