Silver Award: Rights Aware

Silver Award Achieved - December 2021

We have been on our Rights Respecting journey for a few years now. This week we had our UNICEF Accreditation visit for our Silver Award. The assessment process was very successful and, at times, we felt the assessor was almost overwhelmed with the information about the various things that we do at Cleveland and consider as a normal part of our school day.

It is a real shame that you could not see the children during the assessment meeting.  They did you proud and were exceptionally articulate and passionate in communicating what they do in school, as part of their Rights Respecting journey.  The impact that our work has had on them was clear to see and they were so eager and delighted to tell our story.  It was obvious that our commitment to the Rights Respecting School Award is deep rooted and a strong part of the ethos of our school. A special thank you also to our Rights Respecting Committee for driving this process over the last two years. 

This achievement would not have been possible without our collective effort. Regardless of your role in the school community, you have all played your part and should be full of pride in your role as a duty bearer for children’s rights. This is your award, Cleveland. Thank you and well done. 

Achieving Silver: Rights Aware means there is evidence that:

• Our school is explicitly embedding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its policy, practice and culture.
• We are promoting knowledge and understanding of the Convention throughout our school community.
• We are putting into action and developing the plans outlined on our Action Plan for Silver, which we submitted to achieve Bronze: Rights Committed.
• We are beginning to see the positive impact of these actions on children and young people, staff, and on the school’s ethos, practice and environment.
• Children and young people are beginning to see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and advocates for fairness and children’s rights, both locally and globally.

We will now be embarking on the next part of our UNICEF Rights Respecting adventure when we begin work for our Gold Award in 2022.