December’s right of the month at Auchinleck Academy is Article 27: the right to an adequate standard of living. We know, however, that child poverty is on the rise in Scotland, and therefore many children and young people are unfortunately not accessing this right. Some of our pupils and staff have therefore been taking action to try and combat child poverty in our local community. With support from Mary Patterson, Home/Community Worker, pupils have set up a food bank in the school to help local families that are experiencing hardship. They have also started a uniform recycling project, and there are plans to introduce a ‘winter warmer’ coat exchange initiative in the near future. Some of our S3 pupils who won the Children’s Rights/ Global Goals ‘Idea for Change’ project last session came up with the idea to package and distribute left over food from the canteen- this is now happening at the end of each day and is available to anyone who needs it. We are also planning a Christmas jumper/dress down day on the 20th December. Pupils and staff can bring in £1 or an item for our food bank to wear their own clothes or a festive jumper. All proceeds will go to Hillside, a charity which supports children and families in our local communities.
There were also lots of activities going on in Auchinleck Academy last month to promote children’s rights. November’s right of the month was Article 12: Respect for the views of the child . To celebrate this right and mark World Children’s Day on the 20th November, Mary Patterson arranged a special event to showcase some of the work that is going on in the school to support children’s rights and ensure that young peoples’ voices are listened to and taken seriously. Pupils also had the opportunity to meet with representatives from local organisations that support young people’s rights, and talk to them about matters that are important to them.
