Rights Respecting Schools

 

The school has recently embarked on the Level 1 ‘Rights Respecting School’ award, an initiative which supports and will further enhance many aspects of the current work of the school. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a comprehensive human rights treaty that enshrines specific children’s rights in international law.

The actual document consists of 54 separate statements called articles. A ‘child’ is defined as every human being below the age of 18.

As a school we have adopted 5 specific articles that we believe will have a direct impact on our young children.

Article 28: Right to an education

Article 12: Respect for the views of the child

Article 19: Protection from all forms of violence

Article 31: Right to leisure, play and culture

Article 24: Right to health and health services

These ‘Golden Rights’ as we are calling them here in school, will replace our Golden Rules. As the children learn about their ‘rights’ they will also be learning about their ‘responsibility’. Our new Golden Rights Charter is displayed all around our school so that every child and adult are reminded daily of the language of the charter.

Evidence shows that children who are aware of their rights and responsibilities are able to make informed decisions and are more likely to grow into confident, active and responsible citizens.

In addition they can benefit from:

  • Improved self-esteem and well-being

  • Improved relationships and behaviour

  • Improved engagement in learning

  • Enhanced moral understanding and support for Global justice

  • Positive attitudes towards diversity in society and the reduction of prejudice

Where schools have introduced the rights-respecting ethos, parents have also reported support for the values and principles of the convention. This is based on the beneficial impact they see on their children when they adopt rights-respecting language and behaviour.

 

If you would like to discuss any aspects of the Rights-Respecting school award please contact the office to arrange a convenient time.

 

Mrs C Steele

 

 June 2015

 

Thank you to all the governors who came into school on the 3rd June to find out more about our Rights Respecting work. During the morning session the governors we involved in some training and information sharing on how far the school was from gaining its Level 1 accreditation. The governors carried out some pupil voice questionnaires and came along to a Golden Rights assembly. They were very impressed with everything we are doing to hopefully achieve our Level 1 accreditation very soon.

 

Bert Buckly is one of our lovely governors. In this month's newsletter he wrote:

On Wednesday of this week I joined several of my fellow governors for a link day at Sylvan, looking at the Rights-Respecting Schools Award, which both schools are working towards. We were given an overview by the Deputy Head of School, Mrs Steele, and we met some of the pupils in Reception Year to hear their views on what it means to be a Rights-Respecting School. I was impressed at how knowledgeable and enthusiastic the children were about the Golden Rights Charter and their responsibilities. Later, I sat in assembly and was thrilled to see the children engaging in a discussion about rights and responsibilities and the difficulties some children in other countries face in accessing education. The UNICEF UK Assessors will be in school at the end of the month and I am sure they will be as impressed as I am.