Children and staff are celebrating becoming the first primary school in the region to formally adopt the United Nations rights awards.

Whitchurch Community Primary has been presented with a bronze status certificate by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), recognising its progress in adopting the ‘Respecting Schools Awards’.

The idea is to gain a gold award, while formally putting child rights at the heart of school life. UNICEF works with schools across the UK to transform education through children’s rights.

The aim is to give children the best chance of growing up ‘empowered, inspired and ready to make difference in the world’.

Karen Higginson, Whitchurch Community Primary assistant head, said: “We are very keen to adopt the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children. This is specifically a series of awards proving we are on a journey of increasing the integration of the charter into all aspects of school life in and out of the classroom.

“Today we are marking the school being granted bronze status, which is the first step on the journey. This is a wonderful milestone for our school and marks the beginning of an important journey as we continue to place children’s rights, pupil voice and respect at the heart of school life.

“The Rights Respecting Schools Award supports schools to embed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into their ethos and everyday practice, helping children understand their rights and the rights of others.”

The rights formalise the rights to safety in all school life, to an education, having friends and many more. The overall idea is to strengthen pupils’ sense of belonging and their voices to benefit learning.

She said: “As far as we know we are the first primary school in this region to be presented with the bronze award. School elsewhere have transformed their environment and culture with the full buy-in from the children. We are working towards the gold and everyone is enthusiastic.”