Rights Respecting Award
- Convention on the Rights of the Child_ The Children's version
- Rights Respecting letter to parents
- ABCDE-of-Rights
UNICEF- Convention of the Rights of a Child
What is the Convention on the Rights of a Child?
In 1989, governments worldwide promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention recognised that all children have the right to be treated with dignity and fairness, to be protected, to develop to their full potential and to participate. The rights in the Convention describe what a child needs to survive, grow, and live up to their potential in the world. They apply equally to every child, no matter who they are or where they come from.
The Convention changed the way children are viewed and treated – in other words, as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty – only the United States has not ratified it. The UK signed up to it in 1991. The Gold Award is the highest accolade given by Unicef UK and shows a deep and thorough commitment to children’s rights at all levels of school life. There are over 230 schools across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales that have received the Gold Award.
What is a Rights Respecting school?
The differences that a Rights Respecting School goes beyond school and allows children to make a positive contribution to their communities.
- Children are healthier and happier
- Children feel safe
- Children have better relationships
- Children are active and involved in school and wider community life
The Rights Respecting Schools Award puts children’s rights at the heart of schools in the UK.
The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. Our Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.
Using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as our guide, we are working with more UK schools than almost any other organisation. Over 1.6 million children in the UK go to a Rights Respecting School and nearly 5,000 schools up and down the country are working through the Award. Schools work with us on a journey to become fully Rights Respecting.
The Award recognises a school’s achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice within the school and beyond.
Our RRSA journey
There are 3 levels to the Rights Respecting Award: Bronze- Rights committed, Silver- Rights aware and Gold- For Rights. We obtained Silver in July 2019 and Gold in March 2023-the first school in Gloucestershire to do so!
Children know about their rights and are able to name a range of rights they enjoy both in school and outside of school. They learn about rights through weekly assemblies and learn through rights, as these are embedded in planning and policies.
Children are starting to lead on issues important to them and think about how rights can be enjoyed by all children worldwide.
How can parents support what children are learning about the Convention at school?
The aim of both Rights Respecting Responsibilities and the school is to help children to achieve their potential and become responsible citizens. What is taught in our curriculum helps children learn respect for self, others, critical thinking skills, and informed decision-making.
Take the time to ask your child what he/she has learned recently regarding children’s rights.
On each newsletter and this page, there is information about Article of the Week, which you can explore together at home. There are regular updates about what has been happening in school, related to RRSA.
Discuss the ideas learned in class, and try to think of examples from your own experiences, or from the media, of rights being respected or denied.
Discuss how your child or your family can promote respect for rights, or help those whose rights have been violated.
Ask your child’s opinion on children’s rights.
As with most things, the learning of rights, respect, and responsibility begins at home. Children often learn what they see and hear. By becoming involved in your child’s learning and showing an interest in who he/she is and what he/she is doing, you help your child to learn the importance of giving and sharing with others.
How were rights met through lockdown?
The steering group have recently met and shared their thoughts about how the school helped to meet their rights during lockdown. Below are some of the comments that pupils made:
- Article 28- Every child has the right to an education. School sent work home to complete and pupils had feedback. Children at school accessed the same learning as those at home. Some children at home were provided with devices to access learning, if needed.
- Article 16- Every child has the right to privacy- Eschools logins are private and secure.
- Article 12- All children have the right to give their opinion freely- Children were able to meet in a safe space on Zoom and share opinions.
- Article 17- The right to access information- Children had devices from school, if needed to be able to access information at home.
- Article 24- Children have the right to be healthy. Some children were provided with food parcels.