Valley Invicta Primary School at Holborough Lakes receives prestigious Unicef UK Award

Valley Invicta Primary School at Holborough Lakes has been awarded the Silver Rights Respecting School Award by Unicef UK. It is one of only 11 schools in Kent to be given this award.

Unicef is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights. The Rights Respecting Schools Award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school. The Silver Award is given to schools that make excellent progress towards embedding the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into its ethos and curriculum.  There are over 1000 schools across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales that have achieved Silver and over 400 schools that have been awarded Gold, the next step up and highest accolade granted by Unicef.

Head Teacher, Lisa Vickers, said: “We are so proud our school has achieved the Silver Rights Respecting Award.  It is a huge achievement and recognises the incredible effort put in by all our pupils, staff, governors and parents.  The Award will undoubtedly have a positive impact on us all moving forward as it puts the importance of children’s rights at the heart of everything we do as a school.  I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of those who have contributed to this achievement.  We are now eagerly working towards the Gold Award.”

Year 6 pupil, Christian, said: “Getting the silver award felt like a gargantuan achievement. It has made our school be shown as a Rights Respecting School and is a proud achievement to have. It has had a very big impact on how we behave during school because classmates look out for each other and understand the rights of the child and school. A lot of people have been putting respecting achievements in lessons, for example, if they see a pen on the floor that isn’t theirs they put it in the pot.”

The Award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s planning, policies and practice.  A Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.

The Unicef UK Rights Respecting Schools initiative is aimed at schools across the UK, including those in an early years setting. This year, the programme has received additional support from The People’s Postcode Lottery. This vital funding is helping Unicef UK continue its work with over 4500 primary schools, secondary schools, schools for children and young people with special educational needs and pupil referral units across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  Schools have reported a positive impact on pupil behaviour, relationships and well-being by enhancing pupil’s self-esteem, leading to less truancy and bullying, better learning and improved academic standards.