17th April 2023
Before the end of term, we were absolutely delighted to learn that St Columba's has achieved UNICEF Silver Rights Respecting Schools status following a virtual accreditation visit.
Having been awarded Bronze status in January 2022, staff and pupils in both Junior and Senior School have been working hard to reach this next milestone.
According to the UNICEF UK website, achieving Silver: Rights Aware means there is evidence that:
- Your school is explicitly embedding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its policy, practice and culture.
- You are promoting knowledge and understanding of the Convention throughout your school community.
- You are putting into action and developing the plans outlined on your Action Plan for Silver, which you submitted to achieve Bronze: Rights Committed.
- You are beginning to see the positive impact of these actions on children and young people, staff, and on the school’s ethos, practice and environment.
- Children and young people are beginning to see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and advocates for fairness and children’s rights, both locally and globally.
This is an incredibly important award for our whole community and is recognition for all the work that has been done towards creating a more inclusive ethos within our School. Every pupil and member of staff has played a part in gaining this accreditation, whether by incorporating rights into lessons or ensuring that equity, respect and inclusion were at the heart of all interactions in and around the School. Our particular thanks go to Ms Fulton, Miss Hannah, Ms Kincaid and Mrs Millar who have been leading us in this journey and have put in huge amounts of time and effort to make sure that we, as a school, were prepared for the accreditation assessment.
We are very proud to have achieved Silver status and are now working towards achieving Gold status in the not too distant future.