Rights Respecting School Council

Children’s rights are at the heart of Summerhill’s culture. As a school, we aim to instil a desire within everyone at Summerhill, both children and adults, to develop relationships modelled on rights and respect. This journey begins at Summerhill but we aim for our children embrace this ethos in both their local and global communities and develop into lifelong rights respecting global citizens. The School Rights Respecting Council meets weekly where all Rights Respecting Schools business is discussed. The children are the voice of Summerhill. Our Children help plan meetings, take minutes and then the information is then shared with their classes.

We are proud to be a UNICEF's Rights Respecting School GOLD AWARD Holder (October 2018). We aim to be reaccredited with the award in the 2022-2023 academic year.

As a Gold Award school, Unicef’s Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC) is at the centre of everything the schools does, from policy making to planning. The CRC sets out the human rights for everyone under the age of 18 and recognises that all children have the right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect. The CRC states what countries must do to ensure that all children have access to their rights. Through the CRC, Summerhill aims to encourage children become respectful global citizens. To read a summary of the CRC please follow the link below.

http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publication-pdfs/UNCRC_summary.pdf

The Convention is a very important document because it recognises that all children have the right to be treated with dignity and fairness, to be protected, to develop to their full potential and to participate. It also lays out what countries must do to ensure that all children can enjoy their rights, regardless of who they are, or where they are from.

The Rights Respecting Schools Award focuses on children’s rights in schools and takes a whole-school approach to child rights and human rights education. Child Rights Education (CRE) can be defined as learning about rights, learning through rights and learning for rights within an overall context of education as a right. It aims to build the capacity of children as rights-holders to claim their rights and the capacity of adults as duty-bearers to fulfill their obligations. Child rights education helps adults and children to work together, providing the space and encouragement for the meaningful participation and sustained civic engagement of children.

Rights and Responsibilities are at the heart of the school’s ethos and culture. We aim for outstanding relationships between everyone at the school. We listen, care and look to make a difference to people’s lives.

A Rights Respecting School not only teaches about children’s rights but also models rights and respect in all its relationships: between teachers, adults and students, between adults and between students. (Unicef 2012).