Carlisle Infant School | Rights Respecting Schools Award

Following receiving our bronze award – rights committed in June 2023, we are delighted to announce that in January 2024 we were awarded our Silver Award – rights aware for Rights Respecting Schools.

During the accreditation visit, the accreditor was very impressed with how articulate the children were about their rights and the rights of others at such a young age.

We will continue to build on this work as we strive towards our Gold Award. This will involve some campaigning on rights issues so please watch this space!

What is the Rights Respecting Schools award?

The Rights Respecting Schools award recognises the importance of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and works along with our school ethos of “Love learning, love life” to teach the whole school about children’s rights to improve their well-being and the school community, as well as advocate for global justice and sustainable living. The award is based on principles of equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation. At Carlisle Infant School we are aiming for these values to work alongside our already established practises of celebrating diversity and inclusion for all in an age-appropriate way.

Rights Respecting Buddies

We have Rights Respecting Buddies who act as Ambassadors for UNICEF that work to ensure every member of our school community is aware of children’s rights and to promote these throughout the school. Our Rights Respecting Buddies are annually elected members representing their individual class and year group. Our Rights Respecting Buddies meet half termly to discuss topical issues within the school, community and world and link these to the Rights of a Child. The buddies work on short-term projects such as helping to organise events to raise money for charities and to raise awareness of particular rights. The right is explored through assemblies and class discussions and shared with parents through the school newsletter.

Rights Respecting Class Charter

Each class also has their own class charter which has been drawn up by the children to state their rights and how they can be respected by pupils (Rights-Holders) and adults (Duty-Bearers). Here are some examples of our class charters from last year.

Our journey so far………………….

Last year we learnt about Articles 24, 27, 28, 31 and 42 in more depth. The children have experience of many other articles which are embedded in the ethos and good practise at Carlisle including being able to share their thoughts freely and have their views respected. Children are involved in decision-making at many levels through learning about their rights, through School Council and participating in discussions with class teachers and senior staff.