Intent
At Gainsborough Community Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that every child feels safe, valued, listened to and respected. We are working towards achieving the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRS) to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into our school’s ethos, curriculum and daily practice.
UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working to protect children’s rights. In 1989, governments around the world agreed that all children have the same fundamental rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. These rights are based on what children need to survive, thrive and reach their full potential. https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/
The UNCRC groups children’s rights into four key areas:
- Survival – the right to life, health and basic needs
- Protection – the right to be kept safe from harm and abuse
- Development – the right to learn, grow and develop emotionally, physically and socially
- Participation – the right to have a voice and be listened to
Our intent is to create a school community where children understand their rights, respect the rights of others, and develop as confident, responsible and compassionate citizens.
Implementation
How we promote children’s rights across the school
- Each year, children apply or are nominated to become Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors for their class.
- Ambassadors work alongside staff and parents as part of a Rights Respecting Steering Group, helping to shape actions and priorities across the school.
- Every class creates a Class Charter at the start of the academic year. These charters link children’s rights with shared responsibilities and expectations for behaviour, respect and learning.
- Children regularly explore children’s rights through assemblies, PSHE lessons, curriculum links and whole-school themes.
- Each half term, the school focuses on a specific UNCRC article, which is discussed in assemblies and revisited in class.
Rights we regularly explore include:
- Article 12 – The right to have a voice and be listened to
- Article 13 – The right to express opinions and receive information
- Article 28 – The right to education, with discipline that respects dignity
- Article 29 – The right to an education that develops talents, abilities and respect for others
Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors – What Do the Children Do?
Our Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors play an active and meaningful role in school life. Their responsibilities include:
- Representing their class and sharing pupils’ views during ambassador meetings
- Helping children understand their rights and responsibilities
- Supporting the creation and review of class charters
- Leading or supporting assemblies linked to children’s rights
- Feeding back key messages to their class after meetings
- Helping to plan and promote events, campaigns or focus weeks linked to children’s rights
- Supporting pupil voice by gathering ideas, concerns and suggestions from their peers
- Acting as positive role models by demonstrating respect, fairness and inclusion
Through this role, children develop leadership skills, confidence, empathy and a strong sense of social justice.
Impact
Our journey as a Rights Respecting School is already having a positive impact across Gainsborough:
- Children are more confident in expressing their views and know that their voices matter
- Pupils show increased understanding of fairness, respect and responsibility
- Relationships between pupils and adults are built on mutual respect and trust
- Behaviour expectations are clearer and more consistent through shared class charters
- Children are beginning to see themselves as rights-respecting citizens, both within school and in the wider community
We are currently working towards achieving UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Silver, we have previously obtained this award, we need to renew this: Rights Committed, with the ambition to progress to Gold: Rights Aware within this academic year. This reflects our commitment to embedding children’s rights at the heart of our school culture, decision-making and learning environment.