Rights respecting school
Our school has signed up to work with Unicef UK to become a Rights Respecting School. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international law and the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. The Convention is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations, built on varied legal systems and cultural traditions.
These basic standards – also called human rights – set minimum entitlements that should be respected and put into effect by governments. The rights are based on what children need to survive and thrive. There are 54 Articles in total. At school, we make links between everything we do to these 42 articles. You will find them being referenced to on most our correspondences to parents and other stakeholders.
The articles are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each individual, regardless of ethnicity, gender, language, religion, opinions, origins, wealth, ability or any other status and, therefore, apply to every human being everywhere. Teachers make links to these when teaching, planning lessons, school trips and communicating with parents. Look for the articles in the next newsletter or the letter from your child's teacher.
Class charters
Class charters are created in each classroom with children displaying how adults provide opportunities for children’s rights to be met and how children respect their rights by respecting the rights of others. It is important to know that children's rights are unconditional - children do not need to earn them - they are born with them. Children should not be expected to have responsibilities towards them - The rights cannot be given or taken away.
When children respect their rights and the rights of others, by doing this, they become responsible citizens. Under the terms of the Convention, children are the ‘rights holders’ and adults are the ‘duty bearers’.
In the first week in Autumn, children revisit each article by engaging in appropriate activities with opportunities to discuss the history, the purpose and the nature of the children’s rights and collectively, as a class, select the articles they will use for their class charter. The charter becomes an agreement they all sign and use throughout the year.
Our Rights Respecting Steering Group
Our steering group is made out of pupils called Rights Respecting Ambassadors and adults who support them. Two pupils are nominated and selected from each class. They meet regularly and drive forward all the actions from the action plan. They drive new initiatives and work closely with all other committee groups, such as:
Accreditation
The Rights Respecting School Award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school. Gold is the highest accolade given by Unicef UK and shows a deep and thorough commitment to children’s rights at all levels of school life. Our school is currently on a journey to achieve achieve the Silver stage in a near future and it has been one of our school's key priority.
Becoming a Rights Respecting School is about more than achieving specific criteria. It is about embedding a child rights-based approach into all aspects of school life empowering all children to become active citizens and learners, making sure the best interests of the child are a top priority in all we do. With a comprehensive action plan in place, the school is committed to teaching about the children’s rights and incorporating the articles of the conventions into our policies and the curriculum.
Adults who work in the school are committed to placing the values and principles of the Convention at the heart of all policies and practices. Our whole school community is learning about the convention with a shared understanding to work for global justice and sustainable living. We support our pupils in developing the confidence, through their experience of a rights-respecting school community, to play an active role in their own learning and to speak and act for the rights of all children to be respected locally and globally.