support, resources, and professional development in order to implement meaningful programmes. Health services in schools, such as nurses, school counsellors, and access to doctors, increase the likelihood of students accessing care in relation to sexual health and mental health.327 Every school should have free, on-site, confidential health services. The New Zealand government has received recent recommendations from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to “ensure the inclusion in school curricula of mandatory, culturally sensitive and ageappropriate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights and responsible sexual behaviour, focusing on the prevention and the consequences of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.”328 Improved sexual-health education and provision in schools could reduce stigma against students with a diverse SOGIESC. A priority area for further action is ensuring that all children and young people have access to high-quality comprehensive sexuality education. This education should address identity-based discrimination and incorporate a universal approach to sexual and reproductive rights.329 RECOMMENDATIONS: Implement anti-discrimination policies and guidelines for teachers and coaches in all schools that explicitly name sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics; Legislate that schools must update names and gender markers on student records by request, before a legal name change; Provide further guidance from the Ministry of Education to support schools to be inclusive of trans and non-binary students, including by reiterating that school records and databases should reflect a student’s chosen name and gender and this does not require changes to name or sex on a birth certificate; Provide dedicated, ongoing support and professional learning development to teachers and schools regarding SOGIESC diversity; Standardise health education in the timetable at least two times per week or cycle; Include sexuality education (12-15 lessons per year minimum); and mental health education, including learning about drugs and alcohol, identity, wellbeing, interpersonal skills, social and political contexts; and access to health care; in health education content; Ensure all students have access to free and confidential health services at school. Health Select Committee Inquiry into improving child health outcomes and preventing child abuse, with a focus from preconception until three years of age (November 2013) at Chapter 4. 328 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of New Zealand UN Doc CEDAW/C/NZL/CO/8 (25 July 2018) at [32(b)]. 329 New Zealand Human Rights Commission Human Rights in New Zealand – Ngā Tika Tangata o Aotearoa (Wellington, 2010) at Chapter 19. 327 53