Rights Respecting School
We are working towards our Bronze Award
as a Rights Respecting School
Why are we doing this?
At Buckingham we believe strongly in putting the best interest of the child first as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - Article 3.
We feel that it is important for children to be taught about their rights and to make sure that these are embedded into our ethos.
Our curriculum should allow children to learn, not only about their own rights but also about the rights that may be denied to children all over the world, both historically and also in today's society.
We aim to support our pupils as they grow up into becoming globally-aware citizens, equipped with the tools and accompanying empathy for their future lives.
Please read the information below to find out more about the principles behind Rights Respecting Schools.
What is the UNCRC?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (known as the CRC) is based upon an analysis of what children need in order to thrive.
These needs can be grouped into four categories:
- To survive as a fit and healthy person
- To be protected from harm and abuse
- To develop physically, mentally and socially
- To participate as an active citizen
UNICEF UK believes that the principles and values of the CRC should be embedded into the ethos and curriculum of every school. This is the purpose of the Rights Respecting School Award.
UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) provides a framework to help schools to use CRC as the basis for their ethos.
- Ø In a Rights Respecting School, children learn about their rights and the responsibilities that are implied.
- Ø Children learn to associate rights with needs and they learn how to distinguish between their ‘rights’ and their ‘wants’.
- Ø They learn that if they have rights, they also need to respect the rights of others.
The award recognises achievement under the following four aspects of school life:
- Leadership and management for embedding the values of the UNCRC into the life of the school
- Knowledge and understanding of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Classroom climate and culture and the development of a rights-respecting classroom
- Pupils’ active participation in decision-making throughout the school
Some of the Articles of the UNCRC that are pertinent to our school:
Article 2: All children have the rights set out in the UNCRC. Individual children and young people should not be discriminated against when these rights are realised.
Through assemblies and our curriculum learning, we are exploring how this right was and still is not met for some people and what we can do to change this. We have a zero-tolerance policy on the use of any language that is used in a discriminatory way (such as homophobic or racist) and we work together with any children who may do this.
Article 7: All children and young people have the right to a name and a nationality, which they should be granted at birth.
We are proud to be a multi-cultural school and we celebrate this both in-class and at our assemblies through recognition of a wide range of faith events. Within school we celebrate major events such as Diwali and Eid, where children are encouraged to share their heritage and their culture.
Article 12: Every child has the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.
We are very proud to have a large group of children who are actively encouraged to debate the suitability of our policies and are invited to share in our decision-making within school. This group includes the following:
- Our School Council
- Rights-Respecting Ambassadors
- Pupil Parliament Representatives
- Our BPS Political Party
These children have recently worked together with school leaders to discuss and finalise the detail in the following policies:
- Relationship-based Behaviour Policy
- Mental Health Policy
By including the views and decision of our own pupils, we are making an impact upon both our school and the wider community.
We will continue to seek and to value the views of our children and we welcome their participation in our whole-school decision-making.
How do the contents of the CRC relate to our school?
Article 13: Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive information of any kind as long as it is within the law.
Our recent curriculum review has taken care to include opportunities for children to have their voices heard in the school in a variety of ways. We are keen to promote child-led discussions in the school environment as much as possible.
Article 17: All children and young people should be able to access information, particularly from the media. They should be able to get information from many places - from their country and beyond.
Through our wider curriculum, we integrate the principles of the Rights of the Child into our teaching so that pupils develop an awareness of how children’s rights are and were respected and/or neglected in history and across the world today. Children are given access to a wide variety of resources from which they can gain information. They are encouraged to think critically about what they learn and/or what they hear.
Article 23: All children and young people have the right to be safe and happy. When a child or young person has a disability, people should make sure it does not get in the way of this.
Inclusion and making sure that all children can access learning is very important to us at Buckingham. We work very closely with outside agencies to ensure that we are providing the very best for each individual child's needs.
Article 29: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents and carers, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
At our school we encourage the children to take risks in their learning. They are taught that it is okay to make mistakes as it is through these that they will learn the most.
We provide a rich curriculum that challenges and stretches children’s abilities whilst fostering our Buckingham Values of Determination, Resilience and Perseverance to name but a few.
Our current work towards achievement of the Rights Respecting School Award:
Our pupils are currently being encouraged to create a 'Learning Charter' for each of our classrooms.