Rights Respecting

 Newbury Park Primary is a Silver Rights Aware school. 

What are children’s rights?

In 1989, governments worldwide promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

The Convention recognised that all children have the right to be treated with dignity and fairness, to be protected to develop their full potential and participate. The rights in the Convention describe what a child needs to survive, grow and live up to their potential in the world. They apply equally to any child, no matter who they are or where they came from. 

The Convention has changed the way children are viewed and treated—in other words, as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty.—only the United States has not ratified it. The UK signed up to it in 1991. 

The rights of children are referred to in the convention, as articles.  Click here to view a list of the articles:

What is a Rights Respecting School?

The Rights Respecting Schools Award recognises schools that place children’s rights at the heart of their school.  It is an award delivered by UNICEF, the world’s leading organisation for children and young people, promoting the rights and well-being of every child, in everything they do.  You can find more information about UNICEF and their work with schools here.

Newbury Park is very proud to have been awarded the silver level Rights Respecting award. 

This means that children and all members of our school community have a deeper understanding of their rights as set out in the Convention and that they are putting these into practise in all aspects of their school life. They are also campaigning to make our school, our city and the world a better place for children everywhere.

Through this approach:

• Children are happier and healthier
• Children feel safe
• Children have better relationships
• Children become more active and involved in school life and the wider world.

As a school, we are beginning to see the positive impact of these actions on children and young people, staff, and on the school’s ethos, practice and environment.

Click here to view the silver accreditation report written in June 2022.

What does Rights Respecting look like at Newbury Park?

• Our pupils learn about rights through weekly assemblies and Personal Health and Development lessons
• Pupils consider rights when interacting with their peers and resolving conflicts.  
• Through playground and classroom charters, pupils and adults understand how to ensure that everyone makes the most of their education and break times.
• Both adults and pupils ensure that everyone in the school is treated with respect and dignity.  
• Our groups of ambassadors ensure that all pupils in the school have a say in school decisions, where appropriate. 
• Pupils are encouraged to discuss rights in all aspects of their learning and reading materials
• Pupils learn about different charities and how they support children around the world.  
• Pupils take part in various campaigns for children’s rights locally and globally. 

Our Rights Respecting Ambassadors

This year’s Rights Respecting ambassadors are: 

Year 1- Mateo, Liam, Ram and Sophia 

Year 2- Jane, Eisa, Ajwa and Avamoyee

Year 3- Sienna, Amelia, Jannat and Aiza

Year 4 - Shifa, Sukruth, Aiza and Divya

Year 5 - Fatima, Meheran, Fleur and Krystina

Year 6 - Denuka, Ajiin, Tharisga and Taseen.

Our ambassadors were invited to apply for their position and have been elected by their peers through a democratic voting process.

The Ambassadors are elected to be promoters of pupil voice; their job is to help ensure that Newbury Park is a safe and happy place for all to learn in. They are also champions of rights and they ensure that the rights are promoted and discussed in their classes. 

Newbury Park Primary School’s Rights Respecting School Council is an example of the Fundamental British Value of Democracy in action and of our school’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12 of which states: Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.

What kind of person makes a good school council member?

• Approachable and a good listener – everyone in the class has to feel comfortable talking to the champion from their class.
• Reliable and a team player–   Ambassadors are expected to consistently attend weekly meetings, as part of their commitment. They need to be able to get on with a range of other people from across the school.
• Assertive – the opinions of the class are important and need to be shared with the Senior Leaders of the school, the Chair of Governors and other outside agencies (e.g. school meals service), therefore, the Ambassadors need to be confident that they will be able to get their point of view across and be able to follow up on any action points agreed.
• Efficient – class discussions cover many issues in a short space of time, so Ambassadors need to be confident that they can keep their class on track during discussions. 
• Fair, trustworthy and honest – everyone has the right to express a point of view and the views of everyone must be expressed, not just the views of the Ambassadors or just their friends.
• Good communicators and role models – Ambassadors need to be able to work with staff and pupils from across the school so they must have good manners, be articulate and show in their attitude that they want to help.

What have our ambassadors been up to this year?

Our ambassadors have presented their very own assembly, teaching  their peers about the ABCDE of rights.

This year, ambassadors have been very proud to have launched  Rights Respecting Cups to our school.  Pupils can earn these cups if they have been nominated by a friend due to an act of kindness or respect.  On a fortnightly basis, our ambassadors count the nominations and select the pupils with the most nominations as the winner. They then present the cup to the winner in assemblies.

Every month, our ambassadors get together and choose a ‘right of the month’.  This is then celebrated  and learnt about across the school.

Ambassadors are advocates of our school values and behaviour ethos.  They regularly remind their peers to follow both their class and playground charters.

Our ambassadors are also advocates for supporting the rights of children globally. This year, they have been very pleased to introduce the Clarks Shoeshare initiative to our school community, which aims to enable all children around the world to access an education.

Some of our year 5 ambassadors have taken part in a campaign to improve our local air quality through the ‘We care for our air’ project.  This has involved  conducting some fieldwork and research and then  presenting their findings in an assembly, to both school staff and pupils.

Our school also has a team of dedicated conservation, sports and class ambassadors who are working very hard to ensure that our pupils have a voice, understand about world sustainability and lead active, healthy lives

Highlights from the academic year 2022-2023

Last year’s Rights Respecting Ambassadors were:

Tharika, Akshara, Zara, Sharan, Nandini, Abiraa, Aliza, Simrit, Daria, Aaliyah, Umar, Linda, Sarah, Aaliyah, Tehreem, Hareem, Gautam, Marven, Kayden, Reyah, Assad, Prottoy, Klarissa andTazim.

Listed below are some of their achievements:

• Promoted and raised awareness of children’s rights through an informative video.  
• Raised awareness within the school of the charity ‘Children in Need’ whilst promoting the TTRS Rocks challenge.

• Advocated pupil voice within our school, taking ideas from their peers about how to make the playground a better place. Through these ideas, our school playground charter was created.
• Took part in UNICEF’s outright project, details of which can be found below.
• Supported the organisation of ‘Global Goals Day’. Throughout this day, all pupils of the school learned about our world’s sustainable development goals.

 With the help of Sports Ambassadors, they supported the organisation of the UNICEF Soccer Aid charity event.

Outright

Outright is a campaigning programme managed by UNICEF.  This year, UNICEF are hoping to raise awareness of the critical issues in our healthcare system by sharing children’s work on this issue, with an important decision maker and their team at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK Government.

 In line with this, our Rights ambassadors have spent some time looking at healthcare systems both within the UK and worldwide.  They have then collectively produced a piece of work that demonstrates their

learning on this topic and why they think this issue is important.  

Click here to view their work.

The ABCDE of children’s rights

At Newbury Park, we understand and live the ABCDE of children’s rights

The ABCDE of Children's Rights

Rights are for All children. They are universal. 

Rights are there at Birth.  They are inherent. 

Rights Cannot be taken away.  They are inalienable. 

Rights Do Not have to be earned.  They are unconditional. 

All rights are Equally important.  They are indivisible. 

We know that all adults looking after children are the duty bearers and they bear the duty of ensuring that children get their rights.  Children are the rights holders.