UNICEF Rights Respecting School

Our school has explicitly adopted a child rights approach based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and has embedded it in school policy, practice and culture. Children and adults in our school have a thorough understanding of child rights through regular learning in PSHE lessons and weekly rights-based assemblies led by our Rights Ambassadors from each class in Key stage 2. Teachers plan lessons with explicit reference to the articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We use the language of rights and rights-respecting attitudes in all our curriculum work, which relates to children both in this country and abroad.

In November 2023 we were awarded our Silver Right's Respecting accreditation. Click here to read the report

Each week, Rights Ambassadors in Key Stage 2 meet to plan the weekly Rights-based assembly which they then deliver themselves. They use this as a starting point for a weekly class discussion in their own class. Each class in Key stage 2 allocates a weekly slot for this discussion, led by their two Rights Ambassadors. The topic to discuss each week is inspired by one of the articles in the Declaration on the Rights of the Child. It also often reflects a relevant current affairs or news item.

Through the assemblies and through rights based curriculum work in class, our children continue to become highly knowledgeable of the contents of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child and thoughtful as to how the articles affect their life in school and in the wider world. Here are some examples of the far ranging discussions children have covered in these assemblies and class debates:

• -The positive and negative roles played by technology in delivering children’s rights.
• -whether or not article 14 - the right to think for yourself - gives children the right to choose their own religion.
• -Whether or not war is always wrong and how it impacts on a child’s right to safety.
• -How far our own school is successful in delivering Article 29 - the right to an education which develops all aspects of a child’s personality and passions.