Guernsey’s St Martins’ Primary School is the first school in the Bailiwick to achieve the Gold Rights Respecting School Award by UNICEF UK, for fully embedding children’s rights throughout its policies, practices and ethos.
UNICEF require schools to have a thorough understanding of child rights, and rights respecting attitudes before they can achieve the Gold award.
Students at St Martin’s played an increasingly leading role in driving progress on the Rights Respecting School awards, as they have progressed from Bronze, to Silver, to Gold over the last two years.
St Martin’s UNICEF report said “it was evident that children’s rights are being embedded across the school and underpin every facet of school life”.
To achieve this latest and last level, the school evidenced:
- That children and the wider community learn about rights, through rights and for rights.
- Actions and decisions affecting children are reviewed and resolved through rights.
- Children and adults collaborate to develop and maintain a school community based on equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation; this includes learning and teaching in a way that respects the rights of both educators and learners and promotes wellbeing.
- Children are empowered to enjoy and exercise their rights and to promote the rights of others locally and globally.
St Martins’ particular strengths were its happy, positive, resilient and outward looking children, its strong RRSA leadership and a whole school passion for embedded child rights, and its impressive range of pupil voice groups, which allow all of the children to have a say.
Clare Giles, St Martins’ Deputy Headteacher and Rights Respecting Lead, told Channel Eye: “The RRSA has had a really positive impact on our children’s learning and wellbeing. They see themselves as rights respecting global citizens, and have become advocates for fairness and child’s rights both locally and globally. We are incredibly proud with the positivity in UNICEF’s report, and I am sure it is very rewarding for all of our staff and children to see their hard work being recognised.”
Nick Hynes, Head of Inclusion and Services for Children & Schools, said: “The Rights Respecting Schools programme is a core element of our commitment to act on the UNCRC, which was recently extended to Guernsey and Alderney. Schools from across both islands have seen an increase in positive engagement with children and young people since they began to work toward each stage of the programme, and St Martins’ commitment to all the children in their school has been demonstrated by the Gold Status they have now earned. Thank you to all of the staff who have helped to make their schools Rights Respecting.”
