We are proud to celebrate that we are a                     Rights Respecting School!

In May 2022, we received our Gold Rights Respecting School Accreditation. For our Gold Award, we have successfully evidenced that Rights Respecting is embedded throughout our school and wider community.

At St Aidan’s Primary School, we value working with our families and community to improve our children’s access to activities and involve everyone in their child’s education.

At present (May 2022), we are currently involved in our ‘Respect our Community’ Campaign which aims to help break the cycle of littering in our school and community, and also car idling in and around our school.   The aim of our campaign is in response to Climate Change and we hope to encourage children and adults to reflect on their attitudes.  Since young people’s attitudes and behaviours are shaped by those around them, it’s important to expose them to positive influences where they live, work, learn and socialise. As adults, we need to recognise and reconcile our role as important influencers of the younger generation.

Our next steps on our Rights Respecting journey are to :

1. Involve parents and carers more in understanding children’s rights and

helping children to access their rights.

2. Continue with pupil voice, especially in teaching, learning, and assessment.

3. Develop more work around global citizenship

4. Continue with our ‘Respect our Community’ Campaign.

5. Initiate our ‘Perk up our Playground’ Campaign.

We will be sharing our journey to sustain gold and work on the above development points to continue to support our children and families. Please keep checking on our Twitter and School App for regular updates!

At St Aidan’s Primary School, we do lots of different activities to teach children about Rights and ensure that their Rights are realised by duty bearers (adults in school).

Within every nursery and primary class, the Dutybearers (Adults) and Rights Holders (Children), develop their own Class Charters. The children vote for a few Articles that they want to focus on respecting the Rights for.  Here are some examples of Class Charters:

Children have learnt about the ABCDE of Rights. ABCDE of Rights mean that :

All children have Rights, children are born with their Rights, Rights cannot be taken away, they do not have to be earnt and all Rights are equal. Have a look at some posters the children have made :

The children of St Aidan’s Primary School have worked really hard to promote recycling of plastic waste in our dining hall, our school and within our local community. We wrote to Clare Adamson, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw Constituency to ask her to support us with our Campaign.  Ms Adamson raised our campaign and parliament congratulated us on our success.  Ms Adamson is keen to work closely with our school and be involved in our future campaigns.

St Aidan’s Primary children and staff have worked together to create an Ethos, Vision and Values which bring together a desire to understand and work with all the members of our community through and for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We created a Rights Respecting Relationships Policy to replace our School’s Behaviour Policy.  Our reason for this is that evidence gathered from schools participating in the RRSA suggests that when the values of the UNCRC underpin the ethos and curriculum of a school, they have a significant, positive impact on important aspects of child well-being and school improvement.

They also have a positive effect on the relationships, teaching approaches, attitudes and behaviour of everyone involved. UNICEF reports that teachers, children and parents have :

• Improved pupil self-esteem Pupils’ enhanced moral development

• Improved behaviour and relationships(reductions in bullying, exclusions and improved attendance)

• More positive attitudes towards diversity in society and the reduction of prejudice Pupils’ development as global citizens

• Overall school improvement (including learning environment and academic standards)

• Enhanced job satisfaction for teachers

(Taken from the Unicef briefing paper)

We aim to provide an enriching diverse curriculum that develops Global Citizens. We use assemblies, theme weeks/months and a variety of visits and visitors to support this curriculum offer.  We evidence this on a ‘Rights Respecting’ Monthly wall, that all classes participate in.

Through the School Council, all children have the opportunity to express their views and be heard. Classrooms display charters, devised by the children, which explain the articles the children are working on that term.

All our displays are directly related to Rights Respecting Articles and through the children’s input, are bespoke to each class.

The Rights that the pupils have chosen as our School Charter, through pupil voice are:

Article 12
You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously.
Article 19
You have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body and mind.

Article 23
You have the right to special education and care if you have a disability, as well as all the rights in the Convention, so that you can live a full life.
Article 24
You have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help you stay well.
Article 28
You have the right to a good quality education. You should be encouraged to go to school to the highest level you can.
Article 29
Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.
Article 31
You have the right to play and rest.
Article 37
No one is allowed to punish you in a cruel and harmful way.

Useful Links to learn more about Rights Respecting:

A Child’s Introduction To The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child

http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/coloring_book-1.pdf

UNICEF Child Friendly Summary on the Convention On The Rights Of The Child

http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/Child_friendly_CRC_summary_final.pdf

UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award Information

http://http://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/about-the-award/about-unicef/

We encourage all our families to download our school app which is available for free on apple and android devices.

Remember to check your phone settings and allow for notifications!

Click on this links below for more information:

android phones

apple phones

St Aidan’s Primary School serves the Coltness and Cambusnethan areas of Wishaw. St Aidan’s Primary, L.C.S.C and Nursery is very much an inclusive learning community. We view ourselves as a happy, vibrant and successful school with a solid reputation in the local community and beyond. Our school motto” Growing in Faith – Learning for Life” is our clear vision. We are very much a TEAM and together we strive to deliver the highest quality education for all our learners. We aim to provide education of the highest quality enabling children to develop their full potential physically, emotionally, socially, academically and spiritually, clearly demonstrating the hallmarks of a Catholic Primary School. Last year we welcomed the creation of a new non-denominational Language and Communication Support Centre within our school community. The L.C.S.C supports children from within the South Locality of North Lanarkshire with identified language and communication difficulties.

The school, L.C.S. C and nursery are well recognised locally as delivering a high quality curriculum with motivated children and committed, professional staff. A very high standard of behaviour is evident in all areas of the school and Nursery.
Key Strengths identified by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate in June 2015

Nurturing and caring ethos of the school.
Children who are confident learners and who are well behaved and proud of their school.
The strong leadership and dedication demonstrated by the headteacher and by staff across the school and their commitment to professional learning and collaborative working.
Strong partnership working with parents to support children’s learning and achievement.

St Aidan’s Nursery is non-denominational and operates morning and afternoon sessions for sixty children – 30 children in each session. In addition we have a 2-year old nursery which caters for 20 children- 10 children in each session. Staff deliver a structured, progressive curriculum with a focus on learning through play for children aged 2 – 5 years of age.
St Aidan’s Primary is a Roman Catholic, co-educational school. We liaise closely with the Parish of St Aidan’s forging strong community links and encouraging participation in the practice of our Catholic faith. Fr. Liam O’Connor, is a frequent visitor to the school and is a valued member of our team. Children from other religious communities also attend St Aidan’s and we ensure that Other World Religions form an integral part of our curriculum.

We value each child as an individual and hope that experiences gained in St. Aidan’s Primary will give your children a positive self image, confident in their valued contribution to the school and the wider community.

Finally, should you have any questions regarding the school or its curriculum, or should you have any worries relating to your child, you need only contact me and I will be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss these with you.

Yours sincerely

Sandra McLean

Head Teacher