What is the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA)?
The Rights Respecting Schools Award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos.
What is a Rights-Respecting School?
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 pupils, between adults and between pupils.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (UNCRC)
In 1989, the world’s leaders officially recognised the human rights of all children and young people under 18 by signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
UNICEF is the only organisation working for children recognised by the Convention.
The Convention says that every child has:
- The right to a childhood (including protection from harm)
- The right to be educated (including all girls and boys completing primary school)
- The right to be healthy (including having clean water, nutritious food and medical care)
- The right to be treated fairly (including changing laws and practices that are unfair on children)
- The right to be heard (including considering children’s views)