Our Rights Respecting Journey

There are three levels to the Rights Respecting School Award. These are:

• Recognition of Commitment (ROC)
• Level 1 – Silver
• Level 2 – Gold

Carolside Primary achieved the first stage in December 2012 then going on to gain Level 1 status in November 2014. We first achieved Level 2  in spring 2017 and in March 2020 we were delighted to be reaccredited Unicef UK’s Rights Respecting School Award at Gold: Rights Respecting.

Please follow the link below to read our latest reaccreditation report.

Carolside Gold Reaccreditation Award

Please click here to find out more about the accreditation process

 What Does it Mean to be a Rights Respecting School?

According to the pupils at Carolside Primary, this is what it means:

• ‘We learn how to look after the planet.’ (Primary 1)
• ‘It helps to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.’ (Primary 2)
• ‘It helps me learn how to respect the rights of others.’ (Primary 3)
• ‘It helps us to learn about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and what this means for me.’ (Primary 4)
• ‘We learn about the lives of other people in different parts of the world.’ (Primary 5)
• ‘We learn how to be a Global Citizen and also how we can help people by supporting different charities’. (Primary 6)
• ‘The Rights Respecting School Award helps to make sure our school is a fair and inclusive place to be where our voices are heard.   (Primary 7)

Rights Respecting School Steering Committee

Our pupil Equality Committee is taking forward Carolside Primary’s development as a Rights Respecting School.

Please click here to view minutes from recent Equality Committee meetings.

 Charters

In becoming a Rights Respecting School, all pupils across the school learn about their rights as identified in the UNCRC and every class creates a ‘Class Charter’. The class teacher and the children work together to select the rights that they agree are the most important in relation to what is done in that classroom and they display these on a charter. Then they make agreements to respect those rights for themselves and for others, and everyone signs the charter to show their commitment to its shared values.

In addition to Class Charters, our Pupil Council and Equality Committee worked together to create a Playground Charter. These are on display in all playgrounds.

Please click here to view our Playground Charter.

 Article of the Week

The Article of the Week is raised in class and discussed further during our weekly assemblies. This supports the children’s understanding of the individual articles by exploring them in a range of meaningful contexts.

Carolside Primary Code of Conduct

Working with the Pupil Council, The Equality Committee revised our Code of Conduct to ensure it reflects the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. These are displayed throughout the school.

Please click here to view the Code of Conduct.

Equality Award

The Equality Committee has been involved in planning and leading a number of important developments. During our Inclusion Service last year they launched the Equality Award. The Equality Award was created by the children and the response has been extremely positive across the school. Every class has a copy of the guidelines together with a ballot box.

The guidelines advise that:

• Pupils and teachers can nominate someone in the class by posting their name in the Equality Award box
• Each pupil and teacher has one vote per week

For someone to receive a vote they may have done one or more of the following:

• Includes everyone all of the time
• Is kind to everyone
• Displays good manners and responsible behaviour
• Looks after others
• Displays one of the responsibilities linked to class charter
• Looks out for their class mates
• At the end of each month, votes are counted and the person with the most votes will receive that month’s Equality Award certificate.

 

International Day

In March 2018, Carolside Primary hosted its’ second biennual International Day where pupils engaged in a variety of learning opportunities to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of nationalities and cultures within the Carolside school community and across the globe. The children’s response was overwhelmingly positive and, as such, they have requested that we host an International Day again this year – preparations are already underway for the next event in March 2021!