Our Journey to
becoming a Rights
Respecting School
What is a Rights
Respecting School ?
• The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA)
recognises achievement in putting the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning,
policies, practice and ethos.
• A rights-respecting school not only teaches
about children’s rights but also models rights
and respect in all its relationships: between
teachers / adults and pupils, between adults
and between pupils.
The universality of the CRC provides a
clear link for pupils between building up
their rights-respecting school,
understanding their rights and the need
for children’s rights to be realised
everywhere.
Children and young people in rights
respecting schools develop a stronger
sense of the need to act for global
justice.
Why teach about rights?
• With rights come responsibilities. This
helps children to develop a sense of
their responsibility to respect the
rights of others.
Links with Health and Wellbeing
“ As I explore the rights to which I am
entitled, I am able to exercise these
rights appropriately and accept the
responsibilities that go with them… I
show respect for the rights of
others”
A Curriculum for Excellence (Social Wellbeing)
What do we mean by rights?
• These are not the same as ‘wants’. With
the children we are exploring the
difference between a want and a need
and developing an understanding of how
the UNCRC enables children and young
people to gain access to all the things
they need to help them develop into
happy and healthy adults.
Classroom Charter
Right
How I can help others
have their right?
How Mrs Leitch helps
us have this right?
The right to an
education
(Article 28)
I must not disrupt
learning for others
I will help and
support you in your
learning
The right to express
your opinion
(Article 12)
I must listen to
others when they are
sharing their
opinion.
I will provide lots of
opportunities for
you to share your
own view or opinion.
The right to be
treated equally
(Article 2)
I will treat everyone
equally and fairly
I will make sure
everyone in the class
is treated the same
Teaching about Rights
Classroom Examples
Primary 1 made posters illustrating the rights that they like
to enjoy.
I have the right
to a name.
I have the right
to shelter.
Primary 5 learned about Article 24 as part of health education.
They explored the importance of a child’s right to the best
possible health and medical care.
Skills and Talents Road Show feedback from Primary 5 pupil
The RRSA group worked with a local organisation
(Kids and co) to make healthy snacks using fair
trade fruit.
The pupil council and RRSA group worked with Kids and
Co to make fruit kebabs and fair trade banana loaf. We were
enjoying our right to healthy food! We used this event to
help inform parents about our right to nutritious food.
The Right to Know!
Articles 43-54 are about how
adults and governments should
work together to make sure all
children get all their rights.
Our Visit to the
Scottish
Parliament
The pupil council and the RRSA group
went to the Scottish Parliament to
meet with a representative from
SCCYP to find out more about how we
could promote the UNCRC in our local
community
“ We were able to speak to MSPs and find out how they
make decisions that will affect us” Aaron (P7)
“We learned how to debate and enjoyed the right to
our own opinions” Eilidh (P5)
“Where, after all, do universal human rights
begin? In small places, close to home—so
close and so small they cannot be seen on
any maps of the world. Yet they are the world
of the individual person...
Such are the places where every man, woman
and child seeks equal justice, equal
opportunity, equal dignity without
discrimination. Unless these rights have
meaning there, they have little meaning
anywhere”
Eleanor Roosevelt