To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity

Nelson Mandela

 

At Gorringe Park we have started on our journey to become a Rights Respecting school and are working towards achieving the 'Rights Respecting School Award' (RRSA) developed by UNICEF, the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights.

 

We have made a commitment to put the UN Convention on the rights of a child at the heart of our school culture and ethos to improve the well being of our pupils. We also believe, this will help our pupils become confident, caring and responsible young citizens both in school and in the wider community and world in which they live. 

 

There are 42 children’s rights that we look at in school. We do not share the articles in their entirety with all the children, as each year group has a Right that they focus on, that is relevant to their age and stage of development.  We have also reproduced the articles in child friendly language.

 

As you go around the school, you will see in our displays, references made to the articles in the Convention. Please talk to your children and ask them what they know about their rights and what rights they are looking at in class.

 

Our whole school ‘Rights’ focus and value for this term is TOLERANCE.

We would like you to discuss this value with your children and share with them what it means to be tolerant. The Rights articles we will focus on is article 2 – no child should be treated unfairly, article 12 – respecting the views of the child and article 30 – every child has the right to practice their own culture, language and religion.

 

Please ask your child what they know about rights and about their class charter. Also, discuss with your child their responsibilities and the importance of ensuring that they are not stopping others from enjoying their rights.

 

To find out more about being a 'Rights Respecting' school, click on the link to the Unicef website below:

To find out more about each of the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child please click on the link below: