UNICEF and Rights Respecting

Colindale Primary School is committed to the UN Convention on the rights of the child, continually working to promote and protect the rights of ALL children.

Children are aware that these rights are;

Inherent

Are ours from birth

Inalienable

Cannot be taken away

Indivisable

Cannot be split apart, come as one

 

Universal

Apply to all 

Unconditional

Have no conditions attached to them 

What are Child Rights?

The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a legally binding agreement followed by most countries. It describes what children need to survive, grow up well and help them to develop their full potential.

All children everywhere in the world are entitled to the 45 articles contained in the convention.

The Convention also explains how adults and governments (known as ‘duty bearers’) must work together to make sure all children enjoy their rights. All adults associated with our school are duty bearers

What is a Rights Respecting School? (RRS)

A Rights Respecting School is one that provides opportunities to embed the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in daily school life.
The rights of the child must be:

  • Taught
  • Practised
  • Promoted
  • Protected

At Colindale we do the above in a variety of ways; as part of PHSE lessons, during assemblies and as part of fundraising initiatives and in our classrooms. We try to ensure that the rights respecting agenda is promoted across the wider curriculum and through assemblies.

Each class has a Rights Respecting charter showing rights-led statements agreed and followed by all children and adults (duty bearers) working in that classroom. Here are some examples:

 

 

Modelling rights and respect is an important part of the Colindale Behaviour Policy. Children can see rights in action as they interact with each other and with adults. This is also linked with our playground pals and mealtime supervisors who try to solve any issues using rights based language.

Our Journey So Far

Since 2016, everyone at our school played a part in enabling Colindale Primary to achieve the bronze and silver awards, which we received in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Now, we are proud to announce that we have met the standard for UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools at GOLD in March of 2023.

 

The report was filled with compliments and praise about Colindale Primary School’s staff and students. Some strengths mentioned in the report were;

– ‘the school has a strong culture of inclusivity and respect which is understood and articulated by children and adults alike’

-‘ the school has a strong commitment to children’s rights and to RRSA from leaders which ties into the vision/value of the school’

-‘ children were confident in discussing range of rights and why they are important’

Rights Champions

‘Rights Champions’ are the children elected by each class, to represent and voice the views of their classmates.

Elections were held last term and we now have a fantastic team of enthusiastic pupils to help us on the journey to gold.

Our new electees are;

Impact of Rights Respecting Education

By embedding the rights respecting agenda into school life, we are giving children the chance to become aware of what they need to lead happy, healthy lives and to become responsible and active citizens who we hope will change society for the better.

A huge part of this is to enable pupil voice and let children know that they can influence decision making processes across the school. Children can express their views and opinions in several ways: via the School Council, The Eco Committee, Playground Pals or Sports Superstars. Their ideas are listened to and acted upon.

We have seen a positive impact for the whole school community and know that this will improve further as the journey continues.

Eco School Green Flag
Barnet Resilient Schools badge