“Together young people and the school community learn about children’s rights, putting them into practice every day. The Award is not just about what children do but also, importantly, what adults do. In Rights Respecting Schools children’s rights are promoted and realised, adults and children work towards this goal together.” (UNICEF)
In June 2018 Smithycroft was awarded the UNICEF Silver Award recognising us as a “Rights Aware” school. This was a tremendous achievement for the school community and was achieved through the hard work and commitment of staff, pupils, parents and other key partners working with our school. Any visitors to our school can see some of the fantastic work our pupils have produced on display in our Street area and our school charter together with our new vision, values and aims very much work alongside our work on the rights of the child.
UNICEF tell us that the main areas of impact of RRS include:
· Improved self-esteem and wellbeing
· Improved relationships and behaviour (reductions in bullying and exclusions and improved attendance)
· Improved engagement in learning
· Positive attitudes towards diversity in society and the reduction of prejudice
· Children and young people’s enhanced moral understanding
· Children and young people’s support for global justice
· Children and young people become more involved in decision-making in schools.
This year our staff Rights Respecting working group has been working hard behind the scenes to lay the foundations for our Gold Award assessment, and we hope this will take place sometime before the end of the next school year. You may already have participated in our Parental questionnaire during parents’ evening this year and if you indicated that you would like to be part of our parent’s groups/parental contributions then we will be in touch with you at some stage early next year. Many thanks for your time and support.
The next steps for us as a school are:
· Revisiting the school charter.
· Further raising awareness of the Rights of the Child and how we can embed this into school life.
· Looking at making a difference through charitable work or activism.
· Involving parents, carers and partners in developing Rights within the school community.