Unicef Rights Respecting School
We are Bronze Rights Committed!
'A Rights Respecting School is a place where we can all feel confident with ourselves and it encourages us to use our voice. It has helped me build my confidence.' Ash Tree Pupil 2019
1.5 million children go to a Rights Respecting School and Ash Tree is one of those! We currently hold a Bronze Award for being a Rights Respecting School and we are on a journey to becoming a Silver Awarded school this academic year. There are four key areas of impact for children at a Rights Respecting school; well being, participation, relationships and self-esteem. The difference that a Rights Respecting School makes goes beyond the school gates, making a positive impact on the whole community.
Rights Respecting at Kippax Ash Tree
At Kippax Ash Tree School, we are committed to building a sustainable ‘rights respecting environment’. The school will effectively promote the values and principles of the ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ and use it to underpin our vision for school improvement. Policies and practice have been reviewed with reference to the convention. Above all else, the best interests of our children are a top priority in all our actions. Our Pupil Parliament, consisting of children from Year 5 and 6, will be spearheading this exciting journey to achieving the Silver Award.
We are developing this approach to build upon our value-based learning, continue our positive cultural development and create an even more harmonious and open atmosphere, where everyone involved in the school will be respectful of each other and understand the responsibilities they have to one another and themselves.
Children are healthier and happier
By promoting the values of respect, dignity and non-discrimination, children’s self-esteem and well being is boosted and they are less likely to suffer from stress. A child who understands their rights understands how they and others should be treated and their sense of self-worth is strengthened.
Children feel safe
The Rights Respecting Schools Award gives children a powerful language to use to express themselves and to challenge the way they are treated. They are also able to challenge injustices for other children. Children and young people are empowered to access information that enables them to make informed decisions about their learning, health and well being.
Children have better relationships
Both with their teachers and their peers, based on mutual respect and the value of everyone’s opinion. In a Rights Respecting school children are treated as equals by their fellow pupils and by the adults in the school. Children and young people are involved in how the Award is implement in the school but are also involved in strategic decision-making; in decisions about their learning; and in views about their well-being.
Children become active and involved in school life and the wider world
This builds their confidence to make informed decisions. They have a moral framework, based on equality and respect for all that lasts a lifetime, as they grow into engaged, responsible members of society. Children and adults develop an ethos and language of rights and respect around the school. Rights and principles of the Convention are used to put moral situations into perspective and consider rights-respecting solutions – this all has a huge impact on relationships and well-being. Children and young people get very involved in raising awareness about social justice issues, both at home and abroad. They become ambassadors for rights and take part in campaigns and activities to help to bring about change.
Class Charters
A charter is a visual document that establishes an agreed set of rights-based principles upon which relationships can be based and which provide a language for shared values. Creating charters can support a positive learning environment for children and young people the classroom, across the whole school, in the playground or in specific departments or other areas within the school context.
Creating a charter helps to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) more prominent and relevant. It is a framework for both adults and children and young people on how to respect each other’s rights. A charter not only provides an opportunity to learn about specific articles from the CRC, but helps to establish and build shared values and relationships for creating a rights respecting ethos. The process of developing a charter models a rights respecting way of working in school.
