Higher Openshaw Community School
Unicef Rights Respecting School Information
A Unicef UK Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.
Children and young people and the school community learn about children’s rights by putting them into practice every day.
At Higher Openshaw Community School, we encourage children to take an active role in the promotion of children’s rights.
We aim for every child in our HOCS family to:
- Shine bright as compassionate, moral citizens
- Be proud of who they are, their heritage, personal achievements and those of others
- Have a self-belief and confidence to be successful and strive to be the very best that they can be (Article 28 and 31)
Children at Higher Openshaw Community School
are taught the importance of responsibility, resilience, tolerance and respect. All of these characteristics underpin our curriculum and the children’s journey to success.
Children are encouraged to be proud of their achievements, which are shared in our weekly assemblies.
Rights Respecting School Award
The Award is not just about what children do but also importantly what adults do. In Rights Respecting Schools, children’s rights are promoted and realised and adults and children work towards this together. The award is gained through a structured journey of achieving bronze, silver and gold awards.
Being a Right’s Respecting School, we want the children of Higher Openshaw Community SChool to know that they are an important part of making the world a better place, starting with their immediate environment.
A whole school approach is taken to place children’s rights at the heart of our school policies, practice and values. The desired impact of this is that children:
- Feel happier in themselves
- Become active and engaged citizens
- Know how to feel safe in school
- Develop supportive and respectful relationships towards peers and adults
The staff and children of Higher Openshaw Community School have achieved bronze standard.
UNICEF has shown that when children are taught about their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, they are more respectful of the rights of others and may show this through:
- Improved self-esteem and feelings of being valued and listened to.
- Increased levels of respect for each other, leading to improved relationships with other pupils and with staff.
- A sense of security as rights-respecting language and behaviour is used consistently throughout the school.
- Improved attainment and attendance, and a reduction in exclusions.
- An understanding and respect of religions, cultures, beliefs and abilities different to their own.
- A wider and deeper understanding of the world in which they live.
Our staff and children are extremely enthusiastic about the project and we continue to promote the rights of children.
To complement our Rights Respecting work, we integrate opportunities for teaching and learning about Global developments and issues.
The aim of this work is to equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that they need to make a positive contribution within and beyond the school gates.
We all got Rights!