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The Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) is an initiative run by UNICEF UK, which encourages schools to place the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of its ethos and curriculum.
The UNCRC enhances pupils’ understanding of the consequences of individual and group actions on the rights of others locally and globally. The articles of the Convention are based on the recognition of every child’s basic needs in order to thrive. The UNCRC therefore sets out a child’s rights to:
On the 20th November 1989 the world made a set of promises for every child on earth. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international statement of all of those promises.
UNICEF protects and promotes those rights and the Rights Respecting Schools Award seeks to put the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s ethos and culture to make sure that every child is healthy, educated, treated fairly and listened to. They also make sure that all children are protected from violence, abuse and exploitation.
The Award recognises achievement in incorporating the Convention into a school’s planning, policies and practice. A Rights Respecting School (RRS) teaches child rights and models rights and respect in all its relationships, both between pupil and adult and adult to pupil.
In recognition of our commitment to the rights of every child as set out in the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of Every Child, we will apply for RRSA.
In our school we have a steering group, which consists of two children from each class, who are our Rights Respecting Ambassadors. We also have five adults in our Rights Respecting Working Group who are: Dr Craddock (Head Teacher), Mrs Burns (Year 5 Tutor and RRS Lead), Miss Willis (Year 5 Tutor and Eco Lead), Mrs Cope (Year 6 Tutor and Artsmark Lead) and Mrs Mok (LSA). The purpose of the steering groups is to meet up regularly to ensure that as a school, we are doing everything we can to both respect children’s rights and celebrate them.
Here are some posters our children created after we announced our journey on becoming a Rights Respecting school to them:
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Year 7 |
Year 8 |
5KW |
6CC |
7NF |
8GC |
Article 28 – You have the right to education. | Article 12 – You have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously. | Article 23 – If you are disabled, either mentally or physically, you have the right to special care and education to help you develop and lead a full life. | Article 30 – If you come from a minority group, because of your race, religion or language, you have the right to enjoy your own culture, practise your own religion, and use your own language. |
5SB |
6CW |
7MM |
8CT |
Article 15 – You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs, unless this breaks the rights of others. | Article 27 – You have the right to a good enough standard of living. This means you should have food, clothes and a place to live. | Article 17 – You have the right to collect information from the media – radios, newspapers, television, etc – from all around the world. You should also be protected from information that could harm you. | Article 29 – You have the right to education which tries to develop your personality and abilities as much as possible and encourages you to respect other people’s rights and values and to respect the environment. |
Here is some of the work that was produced on the day:
6CW: Article 27: You have the right to a good standard of living
Useful Links
https://unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/
What is a Rights Respecting School? https://unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/the-rrsa/what-is-a-rights-respecting-school/
‘Kahoots!’, which is a global game and online learning platform that teaches about rights through quizzes and online games. https://create.kahoot.it/pages/ef075eb8-7705-4039-970f-72e225b34ad4?_=1571351715
What are the rights? https://unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text-childrens-version