Article 8

You have the right to an identity. This means we have a right to wear our own clothes and speak our own language. Through the story Handa’s Surprise written by Eileen Browne, we have been comparing life in Africa to our own lives. We have learnt so much!

Jo came to share her experiences of working in African schools. She explained that the area she worked in had 11 different languages but the main language was called Xhosa, pronounced Koah-suh.

Jo shared some extracts from her diary that she kept while out there.

She showed us her beautiful outfit that her African friends made for her.

We learnt how to do an African handshake.

We discovered there was no toilet and no running water in her African village. The only toilet was a long way away and was called a long drop.

Children in one school she visited had to learn in a cow shed! They had to clear away the cow poop before they started the day.

The people were very poor but extremely kind and generous. The family that Jo was staying with made her jewellery and a felt belt. The African ladies make jewellery from beads.

We asked some questions and Elsie wanted to know if the African children celebrate birthdays. Jo said that they celebrate Christmas and birthdays but they don’t celebrate bonfire night or halloween.

Thanks Jo for sharing your experience with us. It was so interesting!

Year six spent the morning discussing transitions and their next journey after primary school. Our amazing Church experience team guided them through the Your Move transition book, listening and responding to their worries, concerns and exciting opportunities.

Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.

This is something that we do consistently in year 1. As there are so many children who wish to share their opinions we often have to put our hands up and wait our turn.

The police officers helped teach the children about staying safe and how police help to protect them from harm as safe and trusted adults.

During their visit the police officers allowed the children to ask questions, share ideas and talk about their experiences encouraging respect for children’s views.

The children also got the opportunity to listen to the siren and watch the flashing lights, learning about how society works and what we have to do if we see the blue flashing lights when we’re travelling inthe car to help the police.

The police officers helped teach the children about staying safe and how police help to protect them from harm as safe and trusted adults.

During their visit the police officers allowed the children to ask questions, share ideas and talk about their experiences encouraging respect for children’s views.

The children also got the opportunity to listen to the siren and watch the flashing lights, learning about how society works and what we have to do if we see the blue flashing lights when we’re travelling inthe car to help the police.

Today, children from Year 4, and across the whole school, joined a live workout led by Joe Wicks. This was part of Children’s Mental Health Week and Joe encouraged us to exercise to keep our minds and bodies healthy. We thought carefully about Article 24 which guarantees every child the right to the highest attainable standard of health. It was great fun following and joining in with the exercises he showed us and we enjoyed asking questions and listening to Joe share information about exercise and good health.

Last term our Rights Ambassadors worked hard to spread the word about how great it is to be a Rights Ambassador and how valuable their role is within the school. This has meant that we have now appointed many new ambassadors and they have started their role this week. Their first job has been to reinstate Play Buddies to our lunchtime playtimes. Each day, some of the ambassadors will be helping on the playground to ensure play time is running smoothly and happily. They have created a bank of games and have a new games box to choose from. They will be easily identifiable by their bright t-shirts so do look out for them on the playground if you need help or a game to play. We are all looking forward to seeing them thrive in their new roles – well done!

We can now all write our first names independently and we are practising our sir names. We have written our whole names with a self portrait this week.

During the last few weeks, Year 3 have been lucky to meet some visitors who have different religous beliefs. We have learnt how there can be similarities and differences, but most of all respect for the world and people around us. It has been amazing to see how they all believe different things and are free to do so.

Year 1 took there rights to an education to a different level last week, we went to visit another school, where we saw, touched and fed a variety of animals. This was to support our English and Science topics. As part of our rights we were able to choose if we touched the animals or if we wanted to observe them from a distance.