Rights of the Child

The school’s approaches and ethos are based upon a belief in the importance of ensuring the rights of the child, using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) as a starting point. This convention sets out a range of articles which identify the child’s rights across a range of areas, including aspects such as education, participation, self-expression and freedom of thought.

As a result, the school has embedded these key rights as fundamental principles within the curriculum and learning approaches that we use. By adopting approaches to learning based upon constructivist principles (see Research Basis), including approaches such as ‘Mantle of the Expert’ and ‘Reggio Approaches’, we embed the principles of the child’s right to participation, self-expression and freedom of thought across the child’s learning experiences. These principles are also extended to the school’s approach to school council (Talk Together Time), through which every child is encouraged to have a voice, and our general school ethos of equality and participation, which permeates across all of our classrooms. In addition, principles of non-discrimination are also embedded within our ethos and PSHE curriculum, looking to ensure that we promote a world where the child is free from discrimination of any kind, including based upon ‘the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status’ (Article 2, UNCRC, 1989).

Click here to read the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child