July 11, 2023

Did you know that 111 Cardiff schools are on their journey to becoming Rights Respecting? The UNICEF Right's Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) recognises schools that put children's rights into practice - creating a safe and inspiring place to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured, and they are able to thrive.

St Phillip Evans R.C. Primary

Headline figures include:

87% (111) of Cardiff's Local Authority schools have registered for the RRSA programme.

73% (93) of these schools have an RRSA action plan in place having received their bronze, silver or gold award.

64% of all pupils from nursery to high school, attend a school with Bronze or above.

The latest schools to achieve the gold award in the last 12 months are:

• St Phillip Evans R.C. Primary
• Mount Stuart Primary
• Gladstone Primary
• St Albans RC Primary
• Danescourt Primary

St Phillip Evans R.C. Primary School were praised for the following:

• Children understand how their rights are connected within school life, to Catholic values, and to their local and global community
• A positive happy learning environment in which the school's longstanding commitment to children's rights is deeply embedded in the school's ethos and curriculum
• The school's respect for and empowerment of the children is extremely clear and highly effective.

St Phillip Evans R.C. Primary Headteacher Miss Catherine Power said: "We are incredibly proud to have been awarded a UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Gold Award. This shows our commitment to promoting and realising children's' rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school, our local community and wider world.

Mount Stuart Primary School

Mount Stuart Primary School in Butetown was recognised for the following strengths:

• A school with inclusion at its heart, where pupils feel safe, secure and are articulate about the importance of knowing about children's rights.
• Diversity is explicit throughout the whole curriculum. Pupils can see their own heritage reflected throughout the curriculum in a variety of ways.
• A strong desire to develop students' understanding of inequalities around the world and the actions they can take to address this through their campaigning and advocacy work.

Acting Deputy Headteacher of Mount Stuart Primary School, Shubnam Aziz said: "We are really pleased the pupils and staff have been recognised for the excellent work they do around rights and advocacy at a local and national level. We just want our children to leave Mount Stuart able to stand up for their rights and the rights of others both locally and globally. Our pupils are learning to be agents of change and Citizens of Wales and the wider world."

Cardiff launched its Child Friendly Strategy in 2018 placing the rights and voices of children and young people at the heart of the city's policies, strategies and services.

The detailed multi-agency delivery plan aims to involve children and young people in decision making and address the barriers which limit their life chances. It also supports the Council in making significant step towards Cardiff's aim of being internationally recognised as one of the UK's first UNICEF UK Child Friendly Cities, an ambitious programme that sees councillors, council staff and local organisations working to ensure that children and young people help shape and guide decisions which affect them.

The programme provides support to Local Authorities and partners to deliver a child rights-based approach when designing, delivering, monitoring and evaluating local services and strategies for children.

Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry said: "It's fantastic to see these latest schools awarded. They've been working with the RSSA programme over the last four or five years have now progressed all the way to the gold award.

"94 Cardiff schools have now achieved a Bronze award or above which recognises the efforts of embedding children's rights in the daily school life of the majority of the city's children."

Cardiff Council's sustained commitment to RRSA with the UK committee for UNICEF, is embedding the principles of equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation across the City's school aligning their work line seamlessly with new guidance around Human Rights in the Curriculum for Wales 2022.

UNICEF is the world's leading organisation working for children and their rights.

TheUNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schoolsinitiative is aimed at schools across the UK, including those in an early years setting.

#ChildFriendlyCardiff #EduCardiff