Rights Respecting

Rights Respecting School

In Partnership with UNICEF

At Woodford Primary School, we are committed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), meaning we place the Rights of the Child at the heart of our curriculum, school ethos and culture.

Our aim is to ensure that the UNC Rights of the Child, along with the values of dignity, justice and respect (curriculum driver), underpin all that we do at Woodford Primary School, from our Early Years right through to Key Stage Two. We aim for our children to be passionate advocates for the rights of other children, whilst understanding that all adults are duty bearers and are duty-bound to help all children enjoy their rights. We believe that our children are the innovators and change-makers of our society; our investment in them is of upmost importance!

Woodford Primary School is Bronze: Rights Committed status and we hope to achieve our Silver: Rights Aware status, in 2024-2025 before eventually becoming a Gold: Rights Respecting School.

Our Pupil Parliament consists of departments of children across the school. Each of these departments is designed to drive forward change in our school, support the local community, and raise awareness on global issues and sustainable goals. The pupil-led department groups concentrate on one of the articles from the convention, which has developed our whole school charter.

The departments provide a key linked thread between the children, teachers, and senior leaders within our school, as well as the wider community. This allows us to take a lead in developing and delivering the school’s rights respecting action plan.

Every term each class focuses on a number of articles which link to a selection of books on the bookshelf. This has formed class charters which children will refer to when discussing their learning, characters in books and reflection on their own rights and the rights of others globally. This ensures a progression of learning about the articles in depth and in an age-appropriate way. We believe that our pupils are more sensitive and empathetic towards others, through the learning about children’s rights.

Each week our whole school assembly has a UNCRC focus, which children can then contextualise and discuss in class with their class teacher and peers. The Article is then placed in our Weekly Newsletter, in order to aid home conversations around the Rights of the Child. Look out for the next Article in our Newsletter.