St Martin’s first to silver rights award
ST MARTIN’S PRIMARY has become the first Rights Respecting School in Guernsey to get a silver award.
Using the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, Unicef has worked with nearly 5,000 schools across the country and some 1.6m. children.
It aims to create safe and inspiring places to learn where children are respected, their talents nurtured, and they are able to thrive.
St Martin’s gained bronze accreditation in May last year. Unicef South-West advisor Jilly Hillier upgraded the school to silver level after she carried out an inspection via video link due to the coronavirus pandemic.
‘The staff and children have done a phenomenal job in just under a year and everyone should be incredibly proud,’ she said.
Rights Respecting Schools lead at St Martin’s, deputy head teacher Clare Giles, said the children had been learning about rights in lessons, in assemblies and in clubs and this had empowered them to become ambassadors for all children and to teach the wider community about rights.
In February, the ‘Rights Squad’ organised a 12-hour cyclathon to raise money to support children in Australia who were not accessing some of their rights – the right to an education, the right to play, the right to shelter and the right to an adequate standard of living. The whole community got involved and the event, which initially aimed to raise £500, raised more than £4,600.
Last term, they were amazed to hear that some Guernsey children were not accessing their right to nutritious food (article 24) so they set up a reverse advent food bank where families could anonymously drop food items in bins placed around the school. Guernsey Welfare collected these items to give to families in need.
They have also worked on an active travel survey to see how many children cycled, walked or scooted to school and were planning to launch a campaign soon so their voices could be heard on the subject.
‘They feel if more children actively travelled to school, the environment would be improved, as would their mental and physical health,’ said Mrs Giles.
The school has been working with Unicef since April 2019. ‘Staff and children have been inspired by this new initiative and already have many things planned in the pipeline as they embark on their journey towards the goal – gold,’ said Mrs Giles.
‘I am immensely proud of the children and staff who are fully committed to the project and we are delighted with the impact it has had. We would like to thank Unicef for their support and can’t wait to see our next steps develop.’
