---
title: "Beaulieu students first to sketch inside States Chamber"
url: https://www.nsfw.info/beaulieu-students-sketch-states-chamber-first/
published: 2026-10-11T09:00:43+00:00
modified: 2026-10-11T09:00:43+00:00
author: "Chief Editor"
categories: ["News"]
image: https://www.nsfw.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/beaulieu-students-sketch-states-chamber-first-1024x572.webp
summary: "Year 12 art students from Beaulieu Convent School became the first to sketch inside Jersey's States Chamber as part of a new Democracy Week initiative."
publisher: NSFW (https://www.nsfw.info)
---

# Beaulieu students first to sketch inside States Chamber

**In brief:** Year 12 Art students from Beaulieu Convent School have become the first participants in a new “Art in the Chamber” initiative, sketching inside the States Assembly building during Jersey’s Democracy Week. The visit, granted by permission of the Bailiff, Robert MacRae, combined a lesson in the island’s constitutional history with the students’ ongoing art project, “Our Island”.

## A First for the States Chamber

It is not every day that a group of teenagers gets to sit inside one of Jersey’s most historic rooms with a sketchpad, but that is precisely what happened when Beaulieu Convent School’s Year 12 Art students were invited into the States Chamber as part of the newly launched “Art in the Chamber” initiative. Bailiwick Express reports that the visit, which took place during Jersey’s Democracy Week, marks the first time the programme has run, with the students earning the distinction of being its inaugural participants.

The access was granted by permission of the Bailiff, Robert MacRae, and the visit was far from a simple sightseeing trip. Students were given an introduction to the building’s Victorian architecture, the island’s constitutional development, and the roles and responsibilities of the Bailiff, the Governor and States Members. In other words, a rather thorough grounding in how Jersey actually works, delivered in the very room where it happens.

## Art Meets Civic Identity

The timing of the visit was no coincidence. The students are currently working on an art project entitled “Our Island”, making the States Chamber a fitting, if unusually grand, studio setting. Beaulieu’s head of art and photography, Sacha Goodwin, described it as “an incredible opportunity to have the time and space to observe and absorb the atmosphere of this remarkable place.”

Goodwin added that the visit had “instilled a sense of belonging and history within the students that transcends Art and connects them to generations of Island decision-makers.” That is a rather elegant way of putting it, and it speaks to something genuinely valuable: young people engaging with their civic heritage not through a textbook, but through direct experience and their own creative response to it.

## Open to Other Schools and Groups

The States Assembly’s Education and Outreach Team is keen to extend the initiative beyond Beaulieu. Other schools and art groups interested in taking part can contact the team directly at getinvolved@gov.je. Given the enthusiasm generated by this first visit, it seems reasonable to expect the programme will find plenty of takers.

## The NSFW Perspective

There is something quietly encouraging about an initiative that connects young islanders to their constitutional heritage in a hands-on, creative way. Jersey’s history and its unique system of government are genuinely worth knowing about, and if a sketchpad is the entry point, so much the better. In an age when civic engagement is often treated as a chore, getting students into the Chamber with pencils rather than pamphlets is a rather inspired approach. One hopes the programme grows, and that the resulting artwork ends up somewhere the public can appreciate it too.

*Source: [Bailiwick Express](https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/news/beaulieu-students-become-first-to-sketch-inside-states-chamber)*