Lady Joanna Thornhill (Endowed) Primary School is a Rights Respecting School who has earned the Silver Award. (February 2020 & reaccredited Summer 2023).

This achievement highlights our commitment to creating a learning environment where children’s rights are at the heart of everything we do. It reflects the work of our staff, students, and community, all of whom have worked together to foster respect, equality, and understanding in our school culture.

What Does It Mean to Be a Rights Respecting School?

As a Rights Respecting School, Lady J is part of a global initiative led by UNICEF, encouraging schools to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into everyday practices. The programme promotes rights such as the right to be safe, to be heard, and to receive an education—values that underpin positive relationships and a safe, inclusive school environment.

Earning the Silver Award means we have taken significant steps toward embedding these rights in school life. Staff and children work together to uphold a culture of respect, inclusivity, and pupil voice. We focus not only on understanding rights but also on taking responsibility for each other’s rights, learning to listen, and treating each other fairly.

How Lady J Achieved the Silver Award

Reaching the Silver level was a collaborative journey involving everyone at Lady J. We engaged in meaningful conversations about the rights of children, practised positive behavior that aligns with respecting each other’s rights, and dedicated ourselves to learning how we can contribute to making our world a fairer place. Here are some of the ways we achieved this milestone:

• Student Leadership and Voice: Children played an active role in promoting rights at our school. Through our School Council and classroom discussions, children voiced their ideas and helped shape school policies to align with respect for rights and equality.

• Curriculum Integration: Rights are explicitly taught to all children, from Reception to Year 6 as part of our Rights Respecting Curriculum. Additionally, teachers weave lessons on children’s rights into many subjects, encouraging children to understand global issues, empathy, and justice. This approach not only helps them understand the world better but also empowers them to act responsibly within our own school community.

• Inclusive Policies and Practices: As a Rights Respecting School, Lady J has emphasised policies that promote fairness and respect, ensuring that every student feels valued and safe. This includes anti-bullying initiatives, supporting mental well-being, and creating a more inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds and abilities.

What’s Next? Moving Toward the Gold Award

Now that we’ve achieved Silver, we’re aiming higher! The Gold Award represents the highest level of commitment to children’s rights and reflects a fully embedded culture of respect throughout the school. Our goals include expanding our Rights Respecting Ambassadors programme, furthering our work with the community, and implementing even more initiatives that promote and protect the rights of every child.

Achieving the Silver Award is a huge step forward, and we’re proud of what our students and staff have accomplished. Together, we’re making Lady Joanna Thornhill a place where every child knows their rights are valued, their voices are heard, and their education is enriched by a foundation of respect.

Gold: Rights Respecting is the third stage of the Rights Respecting Schools Award.

It is granted by UNICEF UK to schools that have fully embedded children’s rights throughout the school in its policies, practice and ethos, as outlined in the RRSA Strands and Outcomes (see Gold Forms and Guides).

To achieve Gold: Rights Respecting, schools will be assessed by one of our Professional Advisers who will look at the whole school’s rights respecting work and the impact that has been made through embedding children’s rights into school life.

Achieving Gold: Rights Respecting means there is evidence that:

• Your school has explicitly adopted a child rights approach based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and has embedded it in school policy, practice and culture.
• Children, young people and adults in your school have a thorough understanding of child rights, and rights respecting attitudes and language are embedded across the school.
• RRSA has had a positive impact on children and young people’s learning and wellbeing.
• Students see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and are advocates for social justice, fairness and children’s rights at home and abroad.

Children and young people also play an increasingly leading role in driving progress. At Gold: Rights Respecting, you are aiming to intensify and broaden:

1. Teaching and Learning about rights: for the whole school community through training, curriculum, assemblies, topics, focus days/weeks, displays.
2. Teaching and Learning through rights: by modelling rights respecting language and attitudes and making strategic decisions that involve students.
3. Being ambassadors for the rights of others: developing as rights respecting citizens.