{"id":773,"date":"2026-01-08T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/?page_id=773"},"modified":"2026-01-08T21:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:02:02","slug":"rights-respecting-school","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/rights-respecting-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights Respecting Schools Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>St Matthew\u2019s Academy achieved the Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award following a successful accreditation visit in March 2023. This recognition confirms that we are fully <em>Rights Respecting<\/em>. Our focus now is to sustain and build upon this achievement by continuing to strengthen children\u2019s rights both within our school and across the wider community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Children\u2019s rights are embedded in the daily life of St Matthew\u2019s Academy, with the best interests of the child at the heart of everything we do. Pupils are actively involved in decision-making and are encouraged to understand, respect and uphold the rights of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Children\u2019s rights are promoted across a wide range of learning and support opportunities, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Learning about rights-based issues across the curriculum, including Modern Studies, Geography, Guidance and RMPS<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Breakfast Club provision<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spare uniform support, foodbank appeals and our \u201cTake What You Need\u201d cupboard<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wellbeing Ambassadors, the Nurture Base and Guidance support<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A wide range of extra-curricular activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pupil Leadership roles, Pupil Voice Forums and the Pupil Council<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Whole-school Rights Awareness activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our <strong>Rights Respecting Schools Charter<\/strong> is a shared visual document which sets out an agreed set of rights-based principles that underpin relationships across our school community and sit at the centre of our priorities. Pupils worked collaboratively to identify five key rights from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) that reflect the values of St Matthew\u2019s Academy and align closely with our CLEAR school values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Community \u2013 Article 3<\/strong><br>The best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all decisions and actions that affect children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Love \u2013 Article 24<\/strong><br>All children have the right to the highest attainable standard of health and to be protected from harm, both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Equality \u2013 Article 2<\/strong><br>The Convention applies to every child without discrimination of any kind, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, language, ability or any other status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Achievement \u2013 Article 29<\/strong><br>Education must develop every child\u2019s personality, talents and abilities to their full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Respect \u2013 Article 12<\/strong><br>Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have these views taken seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Rights Respecting Schools Committee<\/strong> plays a key role in raising awareness of children\u2019s rights across the school and wider community. The Committee works to ensure that every pupil understands the rights they are entitled to and how St Matthew\u2019s Academy upholds these rights in practice. Members also lead initiatives that empower pupils to take meaningful action on children\u2019s rights issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key areas of the Committee\u2019s work include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Linking children\u2019s rights to the curriculum and wider school initiatives<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Raising awareness of the UNCRC through activities such as <em>Right of the Month<\/em> and <em>Rights Week<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leading year group assemblies focused on children\u2019s rights<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Delivering workshops for younger pupils and local primary schools<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Raising awareness, fundraising and campaigning for real-world issues, including our Ukraine Appeal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St Matthew\u2019s Academy achieved the Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award following a successful accreditation visit in March 2023. This recognition confirms that we are fully Rights Respecting. Our focus now is to sustain and build upon this achievement by continuing to strengthen children\u2019s rights both within our school and across the wider community. Children\u2019s rights &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/rights-respecting-school\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Rights Respecting Schools Award&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28850,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-773","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28850"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":782,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/773\/revisions\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/na\/stmatthewsacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}