'Rights Respecting Schools Award' (Awarded by Unicef)

St Stephens Community Academy has met the standard for UNICEF UK's Rights Respecting Schools Award at GOLD: Rights Respecting.
We are absolutely delighted to inform you that we have received confirmation that we have been awarded the GOLD Award from UNICEF. This is the highest accolade given by UNICEF UK and as a school community we are so immensely proud of this achievement.
Our outcome was based on a face to face accreditation visit. The assessor wanted to thank the children , the Senior Leadership Team, Mrs. Hobbs our UNICEF Lead and staff for their warm welcome to the school, for the opportunity to speak with adults and children during the assessment and for the detailed evidence provided to support the process. Prior to the visit the school completed a comprehensive School Evaluation and a good collection of digital evidence.
The assessor said it was evident that children's rights are embedded across the school and underpin every facet of school life.
Strengths of the school include:
A passionate commitment from senior leaders to embed a rights-based approach, putting it at the core of the school's vision and practice.
Pupil voice which is highly valued. Listening to children is embedded in school practice. Children know their opinions are listened to and taken seriously. This was particularly evident in the way children engaged with, and empowered, to be actively involved in their learning journey.
A caring and inclusive ethos. All children are valued and supported to be the best they can be. Children's social and emotional needs are a priority.
A curriculum that is relevant, evolving and responding to current issues, encouraging children to be advocates for rights.
Our school certificate and banner will be arriving in the Autumn Term when we shall have a 'GOLD' day to recognise and reflect on this fabulous achievement at St Stephens Community Academy.
 
As a school, we have worked towards achieving 
Unicef UK's 'Rights Respecting Schools Award' (RRSA). We are currently a Silver Level Rights School but are currently working to achieve Gold Status (2022-2023)
We are delighted to confirm that we have now achieved 
GOLD STATUS . July 2023
 
JUNE 2023
On 13th June we were delighted to welcome Jilly Hillier, an assessor from UNICEF, to review our application to hold a Gold Rights Respecting School Status. Jilly looked over all our evidence, spoke with the children including our Steering Group, had a tour of the school, and met with staff, parents, governors and directors. A report will now be written and sent to the UNICEF Accreditation and Standard Committee.
We will confirm the outcome as soon as the decision has been made, usually after about three weeks, but would like to say we are very happy with how the assessment went and the expected outcome.
We are immensely proud of Team St Stephens and being able to share our school vision and values in action is a privilege. The following was written by Jilly in our comments book...
"How lovely to be back in a Rights Respecting School and being inspired by children and adults who are committed to children's rights. A fabulous visit. Thank you."
A special thank you to Mrs. Hobbs who has led the UNICEF journey and collated all the evidence to be submitted.
21.01.2023
Sustainable Citizen Character Competition
Children's' Rights , Article 24:Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that children can stay healthy.
A HUGE well done to everyone who has entered the competition set by our UNICEF Steering Group. We are delighted that children across all ages have submitted their ideas . As a school we recognise it is our responsibility to care for our planet and as a school community we are working hard to plan lessons into our curriculum offer and to identify ways we can make a real difference in a practical way.
As a school, we are committed to reducing our waste of paper, food, plastics and energy. Incorporating intelligent heat usage and heat loss prevention, paper reduction and online communications and recycling.
We already raise awareness of climate change within the school and local community through our weekly SMSC, assemblies and events.
As a school, we promote walking and cycling where possible to reduce excess pollution and energy usage.
With the help of the community, through the UNICEF steering committee and staff we are committed to research in order to improve and evolve our response to climate change. This is an ongoing and continual process.
The winner will be announced in our whole school assembly on Monday. The winner's 'Sustainable Citizen' will be used on all our displays and paperwork linked to this very important area of the curriculum.
January 2023
Today in our Key Stage 2 UNICEF Collective Worship all the children sat in their class groups and discussed their 'Rights'. They then had to agree which rights they felt were the most important in their class. Each class has nominated two class member to be part of the 'UNICEF Steering Group'; the Steering Group make sure that the pupils' voice is heard and respected across the school. As you can see from the photographs it was a lively and positive experience with the children confidently involved and willing to have their voice heard. Well done to  the Steering Group members who recorded and shared their class' decisions. The chosen 'rights' go alongside the class charters and our whole school 'Rights' Charter. We felt the new year was a perfect opportunity to reconsider what is important to us and what our responsibilities are.  The children in our school have the responsibility of being the 'Rights Holders' and all the staff have the responsibility to be the 'Duty Bearers'. The staff are proud  to respect, protect and fulfil our children’s rights.
Some of the rights that the children discussed which link to the UNICEF Articles are:

Article 28: We have the right to learn and have an education.

Article 12: We have the right to be heard and listened to with respect.

Article 6: We have the right to be treated with kindness.

Article 17: We have the right to get information in lots of ways so long as it is safe (e.g. online)

Article 29: We have the right to use resources that the adults think will help us learn and develop our personalities in the school environment.

Great team work and advocacy Team St Stephens.

What is the 'Rights Respecting Schools Award'?

The 'Rights Respecting Schools Award' is based on principles of equality, dignity, respect and non-discrimination. It seeks to put the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s ethos and culture. A Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted. Children learn about their rights by putting them into practise every day.

A quick guide to Unicef UK's Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) is available below.

 

What is the 'United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child'?

In 1989, governments across the world promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention says what countries must do so that all children grow as healthy as possible, can learn at school, are protected, have their views listened to and are treated fairly.

A child-friendly summary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is available below. There are 42 'Articles' or 'Rights' in the summary and we will be focusing on teaching, practising, protecting and promoting these rights within our school.

November 2017
We have received confirmation this week that we have achieved our Level 1 Rights Respecting Schools Award! Our new logo will now be present on our school letters and our new certificate will be displayed on our RRSA display in our school foyer.  
 
July 2016
We have received confirmation this week that we have achieved our 'Recognition of Commitment' Award as part of the RRSA! The RRSA logo will now be present on our school letters and our certificate will be displayed on our RRSA display in our school foyer.
 
January 2018 
We are delighted to confirm our Silver Standard .
 
 
Our 'Rights Respecting School Steering Group'
As part of the RRSA, we had to set up a 'Steering Group' to help the school achieve the award. Our steering group is made up of two pupils from each class, members of staff and the senior leadership team, a school governor and a member of the community.
 
Our school steering group meets in school every fortnight. We meet to discuss a variety of things such as upcoming events, fundraising opportunities and how we are implementing our Level 1 Action Plan.
Class Charters
Each class has created their own 'Class Charter' which outlines the rights and responsibilities of the pupils in each class. These charters are reviewed regularly and are signed by the pupils in each class to show their commitment to following them.
 
Our class charters and photos of these are shown below.
School Charters
Our steering group has created a 'Visitor Charter' which is on display in the entrance to our school. This outlines the responsibilities of visitors to the school and is linked to the children's rights. 
 
As well as a visitor charter, our steering group created a playground charter and a hall charter. Our school also has an 'Out and About' Charter for when pupils and adults are using the school grounds. 
 
Our school charters and photos of these can be viewed below.

Chicken Charter

Our school charters do not only apply to pupils and staff. Our Steering Group also created a Chicken Charter which outlines the rights of our school chickens!

The chicken charter is in place on the chicken house on our school grounds.

 

Book Swap
 
As part of 'World Book Day' this year, our RRSA steering group organised a book swap for the whole school. Children in every class could bring in a book they no longer wished to keep and could swap it for another book which had been donated. This was a perfect activity to take place on 'World Book Day' to encourage a love of reading and promote the idea of recycling books for someone else to enjoy. A big thank you to our steering group for doing such a great job organising the event.
Rights Respecting Schools Award at St Stephens
 
The PowerPoint below outlines some of the ways in which we have implemented a Rights Respecting Approach across our school.