AN INVERCLYDE school is celebrating after receiving a prestigious gold award for promoting and respecting the rights of children.
Wemyss Bay Primary School and Nursery Class has been reaccredited by Unicef UK as a Rights Respecting School.
The award is based on the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and celebrates schools’ efforts to put these into practice in the classroom and beyond.
Wemyss Bay Primary secured a gold award – a level the school first achieved in 2019.
Gold level recipients are schools which fully embed children’s rights throughout the school in its policies, practice and ethos.
Pupils and teachers have been working together in a bid to gain the status, with staff compiling a file of evidence to submit.
Unicef also spoke with the leadership team, pupils and parents to verify the evidence before making a decision on the award.
The school's Rights Respecting pupil group worked together to achieve the award (Image: George Munro)
Head teacher Alison Gillespie said: “It’s about respecting the rights of children, but it’s also about helping children understand how to do that too - to understand what their rights are and to begin to understand, at gold level, what those rights look like.
“Listening to the voices of children, understanding their opinions, seeing how they can influence change – that’s a huge part of what we’re doing.”
A team of pupils from across the year groups led by teacher Ama Kaur spearheaded the award effort throughout the year.
They joined the rest of the school and nursery pupils for an afternoon of fun to celebrate the achievement, with many wearing yellow and golden colours to mark the occasion.
Ms Gillespie added: “I believe in building on strengths and we know those strengths are there, but to have somebody else see it is really encouraging.
“That in itself is motivating - and it’s also motivating for the children.
“They’re really pleased and really proud. It’s about validation of the work that’s been put in.”
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