INTERNATIONAL THINKING

Villiers High School in London has become the first in the UK to become an Amnesty International Human Rights Friendly

School. Ben Whisson and Chris Parr report

V

ILLIERS HIGH School in Ealing, west London, has featured regularly in SecEd for the range of international opportunities that it offers to students. With more than 40 different languages spoken, and 90 per cent

of students speaking English as an additional language, the school’s diversity has led to its student body developing what assistant headteacher Robin Street describes as a “passion for human rights”. Recently, the school added to its portfolio of

international conferences and fundraising days to become the UK’s first Amnesty International Human Rights Friendly School; an award that means the charity recognises the work that teachers and staff are doing “to integrate human rights values and principles into key aspects of school life”. Villiers joins schools from 13 other countries on what

Case study: Toilet Day

Last year, students at Villiers High School produced and sold toilet-shaped cakes, raising money to install toilets and fresh water wells at schools in India. The activities, which took place on

World Toilet Day, were set up by former Villiers teacher, Dai Jones, and the Children in Need Institute. In India, fewer than half of all girls

attend secondary school and many parents withdraw their daughters from school at puberty, out of concerns for modesty. Mr Jones, who visited a wide range

of Indian schools during a visit to the Warangal District of Hyderabad, said: “It’s quite a taboo subject, but we want people to understand that without sanitation, sanitation, sanitation, the education of girls across the world suffers terribly. “To build a toilet block with two

toilets for girls and two for boys for a school in India costs about £2,500,” he explained. “This includes the building itself, a septic tank, and getting in the plumbing – with clean running water so that the children can wash their hands easily.” Supreet Dhindsa, then a year 11

student who helped to organise the fundraising event, told SecEd: “If we didn’t have toilets in our school we are sure our education and ambitions would be very different. This is why we want to help girls our own age in India, so they can go to school and live happy, successful lives.”

in association with

A passion for human rights

is currently a pilot scheme, which will try out a range of ways in which teachers can introduce international human rights topics into school timetables. It all came after the school’s 2009 annual

International Student Conference focused on human rights. Musicians, artists, and human rights experts visited the school to carry out workshops with the students, which included discussions on how to raise awareness of basic rights during everyday school life. Villiers staff also received training from Amnesty and Unicef about teaching human rights education. Mr Street said: “Most schools take internationalism

very seriously, however gaining this Human Rights award will help us to promote it further, and provide an umbrella to our teaching, pastoral care, and community relations in teaching human rights. In a school with so many diverse religions and cultures, human rights are something accessible to all.” Sukhpreet Bangar and Henna Hussein are

two Villiers pupils who are actively involved in the school’s Human Rights work with Amnesty International. They said: “We are two in a group of 20 students

from different years who have become interested in the rights and responsibilities of young people through the work we are doing at school with Amnesty International. We are members of the new Amnesty after-school club and have visited Amnesty’s UK office to hear amazing speakers talking about their experiences. “We also took part in the International Student Conference, and worked with students from across

England and across the world sharing our ideas and thoughts about Human Rights. “All the students should be taught about their rights

as it is very important. We do some of it in our form period, but also think it should be done much more. It helps you think about wider problems across the world and how you should treat all people fairly. It doesn’t matter where people come from or who they are, we all have the same rights.” Mr Street gave more examples of how the school

was seeking to introduce human rights issues in all subject areas, stressing that he did not want the topic to be treated in a “tokenistic” manner. He said: “We’ve begun by tying it in with citizenship,

as the theme complements it well, however we will be developing it across the whole curriculum.” After being given the opportunity to become a

Human Rights Friendly School, Villiers staff asked pupils on the junior leadership team to present the scheme to the board of governors. Mr Street described the board as “enthusiastic and fully committed” to its success. Once the two-year pilot scheme is complete,

Amnesty International is hoping to roll the scheme out to schools across the country.

SecEd

Further information

• Villiers High School: www.villiers.ealing.sch.uk • Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org.uk • Children in Need Institute: www.cini.org.uk • International School Award: www.globalgateway. org/isa

Putting the world to rights: Villiers students regularly take part in drama and music work- shops focusing on the theme of human rights and responsibilities (both images)

Villiers High School: A truly international experience

• A pilot school for Amnesty International’s 14-country project to introduce Human Rights into the curriculum – the only school in the UK participating.

• Hosts an annual international student conference on different themes, welcoming pupils from across the UK and Europe.

• Received the British Council’s International School Award.

• Comenius work with the British Council, offering staff the chance to work with other European colleagues on projects and visit different countries.

• Encouraging students to participate in the annual United Nations pupil conference.

Case study: International Student Conference

Villiers High School’s commitment to internationalism is never more evident than during its annual International Student Conference, which has been running since October 2003. Each year, the school selects an international theme, and gives students a day off

timetable to immerse themselves in the theme. In recent years it has covered climate change and world peace, inviting students from schools across Europe and beyond to visit west London to participate. At the climate change event, a variety of speakers ran an array of workshops where

students worked together to come up with innovative ways to tackle global warming. One group came up with a pocket-sized card with the top 10 things they could do

right now to play their part in preventing global warming, which was then given to all of Villiers’ 1,000-plus students. Among the speakers at the 2008 peace-themed event was Dez Brown, who served a

prison term for manslaughter after becoming involved in London’s gangs. Assistant head Robin Street described the conference as “the best yet”. The 2009 theme was Human Rights, which led to the school being recognised as the UK’s first Amnesty International Human Rights Friendly School (see main article).

SecEd • April 22 2010

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