Where are we now?

We are thrilled to have achieved the Rights’ Respecting Schools Silver Award, which recognises a school’s achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice. External assessors read our Action Plan and spoke to staff and pupils during a virtual accreditation visit, and agreed that our work shows that we are “Rights Aware”. Our journey towards the Gold Award has now begun with Children’s Rights continuing to regularly featurie in our assemblies and elsewhere throughout school. 

As part of our work towards becoming a Rights Respecting School, we aim to strengthen attitudes towards inclusion and equality. This term a number of initiatives are helping to raise awareness of discrimination. Our local Schools Liaison Officer delivered talks to pupils in Senior I to Senior III focusing on Hate Crime and the Junior School had an Assembly on equality, inclusion and discrimination. In a Senior School Assembly dedicated to Holocaust Memorial Day, fourth year pupils appealed to the School with these powerful words: 

“World War II showed us the extreme side of what happens when a racist or discriminatory ideology is given room to grow, we can never let this happen again. We must take these awful events and try and learn from them. We must challenge racism and prejudice of all forms, because sadly, such ignorant ideas are so ingrained in our society that we must take every chance we get to stand up for each other. We owe it to the people of these genocides to try and build a better community and a better society in order to honour their legacy. As a world we must strive for better. As a Rights Respecting School we must strive for better. But simply put as people, our common goal should be equality and the journey to achieve that starts with you.” 

Congratulations to all the staff and pupils across the school – from both Junior and Senior School - who have been involved in driving forward this initiative. 

Where are we going?

With our sights now set on the Gold Award, pupils are working their way through a new action plan which sets out the following objectives: 

• Children, young people and the wider school community know about and understand the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and can describe how it impacts on their lives and on the lives of children everywhere. 
• In school, children and young people enjoy the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 
• Relationships are positive and founded on dignity and a mutual respect for rights. 
• Children and young people are safe and protected and know what to do if they need support. 
• Children’s social and emotional wellbeing is a priority. They learn to develop healthy lifestyles. 
• Children and young people are included and are valued as individuals. 
• Children and young people value education and are involved in making decisions about their education. 
• Children and young people know that their views are taken seriously. 
• All children and young people have taken action to uphold their rights and the rights of others, locally and globally. 

Some of the actions Junior and Senior School pupils and staff have identified in order to help us meet the objectives include (but are by no means limited to):  

• Form a Pupil Steering Group.  
• Rights Respecting Schools training for all staff
• Sharing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child both in school and online - e.g. Firefly. 
• Create a social media presence for RRSA
• Introduce a new unit in Transitus on “Rights of the Child”.
• Display information posters explaining what the rights actually mean.
• Raise awareness through weekly assemblies.
• Train staff in Rights Respecting language.
• Raise awareness of Mental Health Ambassadors.
• Re-evaluate Buddy Scheme with a focus on new and vulnerable pupils. 
• Audit whole school curriculum.