Rights Respecting Schools
We are proud to announce that Wellington Primary School have successfully achieved the Unicef UK Bronze - Right Committed Award for our rights-respecting work!
What is the Rights Respecting Schools Award?
The Unicef UK Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) supports schools across the UK to embed children’s human rights in their ethos and culture.
The award recognises achievement in putting the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC) at the heart of a school’s practice to improve well-being and help all children realise their potential.
The award is based on principles of equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation.
The initiative started in 2006 and schools involved in the Award have reported a positive impact on relationships and well-being, leading to better learning and behaviour, improved academic standards and less bullying.
What does the Award involve?
The Right Respecting Schools Award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos.
For a school to receive accreditation, it must evidence that it has reached the three RRSA Strands.
• Strand A: Teaching and learning about rights
At Wellington we have been learning about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in different subjects and topics. We link rights to various events throughout the school year (e.g. anti-bullying week, mental health week, black history month) and have a ‘Right of the Month’ for classes to discuss each month. Our Rights Respecting team of children have trained the teachers and support staff to help them feel more confident about teaching about rights.
• Strand B: Teaching and learning through rights – ethos and relationships
Every class in our school has a Class Charter where the children have voted for the rights and rights respecting actions they want to focus on in their class, to create a rights respecting environment. Children have the opportunity to become playground buddies (KS1) and playground leaders (KS2), helping each other during playtimes to ensure that all children are able to enjoy their rights.
• Strand C: Teaching and learning for rights – participation, empowerment and action
These rights are universal. They apply to all children, yet some children in the UK and around the world are not able to enjoy all of their rights. The Rights Respecting team meet regularly to plan events and activities to promote children and young people’s rights around the world. Some recent activities include writing to our local MP about the rights of refugee children during refugee week in KS2, and collecting food for the local food bank during healthy eating week in KS1.
What’s Next for Wellington?
Now that we have been awarded the Bronze - Rights Committed Award, the next step is to work towards achieving the Silver - Rights Aware Award.
Achieving Silver: Rights Aware means there is evidence that:
• our school is explicitly embedding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in our policy, practice and culture
• our school is promoting knowledge and understanding of the Convention throughout your school community
• our school is putting into action and developing the plans outlined on our Action Plan for Silver, which was submitted to achieve our Bronze: Rights Committed Award
• our school is beginning to see the positive impact of these actions our children, staff, and on our school’s ethos, practice and environment
• our pupils are beginning to see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and advocates for fairness and children’s rights, both locally and globally
More Information
For more information about the Rights Respecting Schools Award please speak to Mrs Murphy or visit; https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/
