Rights Respecting School

At Lily Lane Primary School governors, staff, parents and children know about the United Nations Convention Rights on the Child. Governors were informed with a presentation, staff were trained during an INSET day, parents were sent a letter and it was discussed in a ‘Friends of Lily Lane’ meeting. Displays around the school are child led and informative. Classes have charters linked to Articles and year groups have focus Articles to focus on in whole school assemblies, phase assemblies and class assemblies. The steering group meet and complete rights respecting activities to feed back to their class and year group. They also attended the ‘Hear My Voice’ conference. Singing club created a rights respecting song.

When exploring Article 3 year 2 used teachers as the main focus. The children explored what teachers do and why so they know that their best interests are the primary concern. Across the school, children know why they are ‘Ready, Respectful and Safe’ to ensure they are creating a rights respecting environment. Lily Lane’s behaviour policy stipulates the importance of reflection time after moral dilemmas have occurred. Rights are being used in these reflections to ensure the children know what impact they are having on children’s rights. Positive phone calls home and ‘meet and greet’ have had a significant impact on positive relationships. One of Lily Lane’s three school rules in Safe. The children know the importance of this school rule. It is emphasised at the beginning of each school term and reinforced throughout the year. In the EYFS key person roles support the young children in feeling safe. Breakfast clubs and after school clubs allow all children to have contact with more members of staff other than their own teacher. There are two pastoral members of staff who are available at key points during the day.

The children know we are a healthy school. From an early age, they understand why we eat a balanced diet and know why we exercise. They know our PSHE focuses and why we have PSHE lessons. Lily Lane has a school council and eco-committee. These groups take pride in decision making and are confident to feed these back to their classes and year groups. During the recent OFSTED visit children spoke positively of school and their learning. Before each topic is started children always have the opportunity to voice what they want to learn about. These questions are then answered throughout the topic.

“I was aware of people having rights but what I didn’t know is how important they are, how they feed into absolutely everything that we do as teachers and the affect this is having on the children. The impact of RRSA will hopefully stay with the children into their future, turning them into better people because of it and ensuring they are global citizens.” – Year 2 teacher