This term in PSHE, Year 5 have been learning all about our rights as children through the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child. We’ve found out what it means to have rights and why they are so important for every child in the world.

We’ve talked about how our rights help us feel safe, respected and listened to, and how they give us the chance to grow, learn and be the best we can be. We know that we all have a voice and we can use it to make our school an even better place for everyone.

Learning about our rights has made us think more carefully about our choices and how we treat others. We’re proud to be rights-respecting and we are always looking for ways to use what we’ve learned in our everyday school life.

As part of our religious and world views learning we discussed the different groups that we belong to. Lots of us spoke about different sporting groups such as football and rugby clubs and some of us are also members of groups such as Squirrels and Brownies. We thought about what we might wear to show we are part of these groups and that we belong

Today we celebrated the children’s wonderful artwork that has been created by every child in our school. It look absolutely wonderful and we have been so proud showing our adults too!

In Reception today we read a story about Elmer. We discovered that Elmer is special and that he is kind and funny and makes his own choices. Then we thought about how we are all different and what we are good at doing. We are all free to be ourselves and we are wonderful!

Then we told each other what things we are good at. Raven is good at taking care of people. Thea is good at making friends. Ollie is good at playing football. Ronnie is good at using the monkey bars and Alice is good at holding bugs.

Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take them seriously. In year 1 we have looked that the new school menu for September. We discussed what we liked about it and possible changes, these ideas will then go back to the kitchen so they can update the menu using the views we have given.

In Year 4 we have been looking at both articles 28 and 29 about having access to and a right to an education. We read about the story of a little girl called Chiwa who was 9 years old and lived in Malawi with her family. Chiwa was having to walk 10 miles to go to school every week day (she loved school and didn’t mind this) but because of her family’s circumstances she may have to stop once she finished Primary school. We discussed her family situation and how it impacted on her ability to have an education. We wrote our opinions down and shared them as a class.

You may have noticed lots of our rights respecting blog posts have been mentioning a ‘Right of the Term’ recently. This is something that has been set up so each year group can learn about all the different articles on the convention on the rights of the child (see more here https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/) without feeling overloaded – there are over 40 of them after all! As the children move up through the school they will access different rights in different year groups and revisit ones they have covered before to ensure they are embedded. We are working hard to include our rights of the term in our every day learning and we will be introducing more information about them through assemblies and worships.

Below is a copy of the rota so you can see what rights will be coming up for your child’s year groupa and the sorts of activities that might be covered (these can be swapped and changed to fit the curriculum as it comes around so please take them as a suggestion only).

It would be lovely to see any further activities going on at home via tapestry or sending photos to the school.

We have been thinking about our rights this week as the children visit other classes as part of their transition. we know that every person has rights and moving up to year 1, we will still keep our rights and have access to ‘rest and play’ throughout our childhoods.

This made us think about our right of the term ‘we all have the right to play and rest’. We think we have certainly had lots of opportunities to put it into practice this term- We have been a trip to Plymouth Aquarium, been gardening and growing potatoes, made an obstacle course outside and designed African necklaces for our Handa’s surprise topic during our play, we also have plenty of opportunities to rest- we love to relax in our book corner, listen to stories in the library, make and eat pancakes for snack and eat lollies in our orchard sitting with friends on a sunny day.

This week we have been thinking about Article 6 and how humans, animals and plants all have the right to life, survival and development. So, Year 2 have continued their science learning about plants. We are planning to make our own terrariums! We discussed the water cycle and what plants need to survive and we designed our own terrariums. We will report back once they are up and running so keep an eye out!

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We have been looking at the Right of The Term and exploring Article 29 (The Right to an Education that Develops Your Talents).

Year Sixes have also discussed the meanings of ‘indivisible’ and ‘duty bearers’ in relation to rights.