What is the UNCRC?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC ) is an international human rights treaty that grants all children and young people (aged 17 and under) a comprehensive set of rights.
What is the Rights Respecting School Award?
The Rights Respecting Schools Award puts children’s rights at the heart of schools in the UK.
The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. The Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.
The Award recognises a school’s achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice within the school and beyond.
The video below explains what the UNCRC is and how it protects the rights of all children.
September 2022
Steering Committee formed using the staff CRED team and the Pupil Council.
October 2022
The pupil council RRSA steering group learns about rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in their meeting.
October 2022
Year 9 pupils are the first year group to complete the RRSA core materials on knowing your rights.
November 2022
To mark World Children’s day the whole school is informed that we intend to become a UNICEF Rights Respecting School. All form classes watched our launch video. Parents, staff and the Board of Governors watched their own video.
December 2022 – January 2023
The steering committee submitted their plan on how to become a RRSA school.
January 2023
All form classes will look at a different article from the UNCRC each month. In January 2023 the articles of the month are:
Article 2 – The Convention applies to every child without discrimination
Article 19 – Protection from violence, abuse and neglect
Article 37- No child should be tortured, sentenced to death, imprisoned unfairly, or treated in a cruel or inhuman way
Article 38- No child under 15 should join the army and children should be protected in war
These articles help us to understand and mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
February 2023
On 3rd February four representatives of the Pupil Council attended an Age Law Reform Conference organised by The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and NICCY. We heard about how age discrimination can impact young people and how we can campaign to ensure all those under the age of 18 have the right to fair treatment. Pupils were particularly interested to hear about how their right to not be discriminated against based on age is protected by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We look forward to exploring this further as part of our RRSA journey.
Article 2 – The Convention applies to every child without discrimination
World Events and Children’s Rights
All pupils at New-Bridge know that their rights are unconditional and universal. Unfortunately, not all children across the world have access to all their rights. Throughout the year we use real world examples to draw attention to children who are experiencing times of hardship. In 2023 all form classes looked at the Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the Conflict in Sudan and celebrated Mental Health awareness week.
February 2023
In February 2023 the Pupil Council led assemblies for all year groups on the UNCRC and how it is universal and unconditional. The assemblies included videos from UNICEF and a ‘stand up for rights’ activity to test how much pupils know about their rights.
April 2023 – Good Friday Agreement
In April 2023 all form classes celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement with an LLW lesson on the importance of empathy and compassion as the legacy of the peace agreement in Northern Ireland.
April 2023 – Pupil Council Introduces Committee Structure
The Pupil Council have been focusing on Article 12 of the UNCRC – Respect for the views of Children. This led us to restructure how we address problems and find solutions for the good of the whole school. Taking inspiration from the local council structure there will now be three committees dealing with issues brought to the council by the student body. The three new committees are sport, hygiene and uniform. Each group will work to come up with solutions to issues of concern and then present their case to the relevant member of staff.
The formation of these new committees will ensure that all pupils at New-Bridge have the right to have their voice heard and their views respected.
May 2023
Staff Update
In May 2023 Miss Irvine updated the staff on our progress so far. Staff were encouraged to take the little and often approach in teaching about rights at New-Bridge.
August 2023
In August 2023 staff completed training on children’s rights and their role as duty bearers in a Rights Respecting School. The teaching staff were tested on their knowledge of the UNCRC and went on to complete group task on individual CRC rights.
September 2023
Class Charters
In September 2023 all form classes created class charters using the rights in the UNCRC as a guide. They decided on the actions each form class would take to ensure that children’s rights are upheld at New-Bridge. Form classes looked at the role of rights holders and duty bearers.
October 2023 – Visit from the NI Children’s Commissioner
In October 2023 Chris Quinn Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People joined us in our assembly highlighting the work we are doing to ensure that all children can access their UNCRC rights at New-Bridge. The Pupil Council led the assembly and were presented with their ‘Child Rights Defender’ badges.
November 2023 – International Children’s Day Assemblies
In November 2023 we celebrated International Children’s Day by holding assemblies on equity and equality. We learned that just because all children have the rights in the UNCRC they do not always have access to them. We also learned about the difference between equity and equality and how we can make New-Bridge is a more equitable place.
November 2023 – Silver Award Achieved!
At the end of November members of the CRED team and the Pupil Council went through the accreditation process with UNICEF to prove that we are worthy of the silver RRS Award. Everyone worked very hard to prove how far we have come in our RRSA journey. We were delighted to be given the Silver Award. We now move on to trying to achieve the highest level of recognition: THE GOLD AWARD.
June 2024 – Recruitment began for a new team of Children’s Rights Defenders
In June 2024,we started recruiting for a new group called the Children’s Rights Defenders. Pupils from years 9 and 10 volunteered to lead the campaign for everyone at New-Bridge to know about their rights. The slogan of the CRDs is to ‘Promote, Protect and Defend’ the rights of all children both at New-Bridge and further afield. Over 40 pupils signed up, some volunteered to do assemblies, others wanted to write articles for the ‘Respected Rights’ Newsletter and the rest became form class champions. It is the job of the form class champions to remind their tutors to do the article of the month on time.
September 2024 – New Year 8 – Introduction to Rights Workshop
On their very first day at New-Bridge our new year 8 pupils participated in an afternoon workshop introducing them to children’s rights. We played rights related games, learned the difference between needs and wants as well as beginning to understand some of the ways New-Bridge protects the rights of children.
September 2024 – JOLT Launch
All pupils in year 8 will participate in a social action campaign under the title of JOLT (joy of learning together). They will work throughout the year on campaigning to have the gaps in the A1 dual carriageway closed to make the road safer for everyone. At the end of the year they will take their campaign to Stormont so that the Minister for Infrastructure can hear their arguments.
September 2024 – CRDs meet for the first time
In September 2024 the CRDs met for the first time to learn more about children’s rights. They were given their first assignments.
November 2024 – First edition of the ‘Respected Rights’ Newsletter
The journalism group with the CRDs produced the first edition of the ‘Respected Rights’ Newsletter highlighting all the rights related news for the first term of 2024-25. This was a great way to get the news on children’s rights out to the wider New-Bridge Community.
November 2024 – World Children’s Day at New-Bridge
In celebration of World Children’s Day 2024 the whole school participated in a lesson on dignity and how access to their rights ensures children are treated with dignity and respect.
Everyone enjoyed the lesson where pupils looked at case studies of times when dignity had been denied to children. They were also encouraged to think about ways we can all contribute to respect in school.
January 2025 – CRDs Video
In January the assemblies team from the CRDs have been working hard on a video highlighting all the ways New-Bridge promotes and protects the rights of children. It is hoped that this video will launch at the beginning of February.