United Nations Award for Rights-Aware Evelyn Street Pupils

Pupils at Evelyn Street Primary School in Warrington have received an accolade from Unicef for their work on the rights of children around the world.

The organisation – an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and development aid to children worldwide – assessed the school as part of its Rights Respecting Schools programme.

Evelyn Street achieved a silver ‘Rights Aware’ accreditation award following a visit by assessors who met school leaders and children and observed teaching. The school has already received a bronze award from the organisation.

The award assessors were impressed by the children’s level of understanding of the rights of children as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and how some children don’t have access to even basic rights such as clean water, good food, protection, shelter and education.

They said that the school was committed to a rights-based approach, with children learning about rights through subjects such as personal development, global citizenship, history and geography. Children were also encouraged to stay informed about how children are affected by world events through programmes such as Newsround.

And they remarked on how the children translated their awareness and concern with practical action, highlighting the youngsters’ efforts to keep their local community clean and raising money for local charities and organisations such as the local hospice.

Evelyn Street Primary teacher Hannah Royle, who co-ordinates the school’s involvement in the award, said: “We’re really proud of receiving this award. We have always been a school with an ethos of empowering our children and helping them reach their full potential, so the Rights Respecting Schools Award married perfectly with what we already do.”

Proud pupils celebrate Evelyn Street Primary’s silver award from Unicef with executive headteacher and WPAT CEO Louise Smith (left) and teacher Hannah Royle.