UNICEF
UNICEF Rights Respecting School
UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation for children and their rights. They work with families, local communities, partners and governments in more than 190 countries to help every child survive and flourish.
Last year we began our journey towards achieving UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA).
The Rights Respecting Schools Award recognises schools that put the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of s school’s planning, policies and practice.
A Rights Respecting School teaches children that they have rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We also model rights and respect in all relationships in school, such as between teachers and pupils, between staff themselves and also between the children.
In December 2015 we achieved the ‘Recognition of Commitment’ and in February 2017 we achieved Level 1 of the award.
To achieve the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award, we have to provide evidence for the following standards:
- Rights-respecting values underpin leadership and management
- The whole-school community learns about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- The school has a rights respecting ethos
- Children are empowered to become active citizens and learners
The RRSA has supported us in developing an ethos of rights and respect.
For our children this means:
- improved self-esteem and feelings of being valued and listened to
- increased levels of respect for each other
- an understanding and respect of religions, cultures, beliefs and abilities different to their own
- a wider and deeper understanding of the world in which they live
For adults this means:
- strengthened collaborative working
- staff working together towards developing and sustaining a rights-respecting approach in the classroom
- developing and using rights-respecting language throughout the school
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