Rights Respecting Schools Gold Award
Middleton is proud to be a Rights Respecting School. In May 2023, we were reaccredited with the Gold Award by UNICEF UK for 2023-26. This is our third successive Gold Award, having first achieved it in 2015. We are the only school in Nottingham City to have this status,
The following presentation supported our bid for reaccreditation in May 2023:
This video shows children talking about what being a Rights Respecting School means to them:
We are a school where adults listen to children and where our children have a voice and are treated with respect at all times. We are a diverse school where different cultures are celebrated and we are proud to educate children as global citizens who show care and concern for each other.
We believe that the impact of our rights respecting work in school helps foster strong relationships, improve children's understanding of the world and gives them the knowledge that their ideas and actions can make a difference. When children feel heard, empowered and engaged, we see a positive impact on achievement, attendance and behaviour.
The children's rights we foster are based on the United Nations Conventions on the Right of the Child (UNCRC). Article 29 underlines our school ethos:
"Education must develop every child's personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child's respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment."
.To see the Articles in different formats, click here:
- Summary of the UNCRC articles
- Conventions on the Rights of the Child
- Articles in child friendly version
- Pocket Book of Children's Rights
Our assembly programme links closely with the articles on a cyclical basis. Some recent examples can be seen here:
- Articles 28, 29, 31: New Year's Resolution, January 2023
- Articles 1, 2, 42: Martin Luther King Day, January 2023
- Articles 3, 24, 28: Building Back Better, January 2023
For more information on how we create a rights-respecting ethos in school, click here:
The staff member who leads on our RRS work is Mr Ian Mawer. He can be contacted on ian.mawer@middleton.nottingham.sch.uk if you have any questions - or perhaps would like to become involved in some way as we are always reaching out for community involvement.
Our RRSA Steering Group, currently comprised of children from Y5 and Y6, meet regularly to discuss ideas and work on projects to help promote children's rights within the school and beyond. They recently made this video to introduce themselves and explain why they wanted to be on the steering group:
March 2022: the group organised a table top sale in school and raised a staggering £532 in a morning; the proceeds of this all went to the Mustard Seed Project - a Nottingham-based charity supporting a community in Uganda. More details can be found here. In October 2022, a further fundraiser was held which raised £700. This coincided with World Food Day to raise awareness of global hunger. Children from the Steering Group led presentations in some of our younger classes to highlight the issues:
Mr Mawer's assembly presentation on the Mustard Seed Project
- Video messages of thanks
October 2022
March 2022