The William fletcher Arts Council was set up in 2020, we want to help everyone in our school enjoy taking part in the arts.

The arts are made up of dance, drama, music and art. We think it is important for everyone to be able to take part in the arts for lots of reasons. These include:

· You can put yourself in other people’s shoes and understand how they feel

· It’s fun to be creative

· Making art is a good way to come together with friends

· You can express yourself and your feelings

· Dancing is a good way to stay fit and healthy

Our first activity this year will be to start lunchtime art club, if you are interested in taking part speak to a member of the Arts Council.

UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA)

What is the RRSA?

The UNICEF RRSA is a UNICEF programme that aims to put children’s rights at the heart of schools in the UK. The programme and accreditation are based around the 54 articles cited in UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and aim to create a world in which all children are protected, educated, healthy, heard and treated fairly.

Here at William Fletcher, we have already achieved Level 1 accreditation and are proud to be working towards gaining our Level 2 certification.

We believe that being a Rights Respecting School encourages our pupils to realise their own rights and potential, as well as enabling them to become advocates for children’s rights all around our world. In doing so, we hope that pupils may help to tackle some of the complex issues facing our world today and in the future.

How do we do it?

School life:
Our RRSA work is embedded into our curriculum and school life. We make cross curricular links with UNCRC articles in lessons and the pupils have taken part in campaigns and events to raise awareness of the importance of children’s rights. We have class charters which reference some of the articles the children feel can help to create classroom environments where everyone can learn and be safe and happy. We also make links with other schools and organisations in our community and beyond to help raise awareness and support children who are denied their rights.

The Article 12 Committee:

The Article 12 Committee were thrilled to learn that we have gained our reaccreditation for our Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award. We plan to continue to build on the great work done by the pupils in the previous years’ committees and continue our journey as a Rights Respecting School. We meet regularly to talk about children’s rights both in and out of school and how we can work together to ensure that these are promoted, respected, and protected. We plan to focus a lot on the link between the environment, climate change and children’s rights as this is something we feel very passionate about and want to do a lot of work on. We are also planning another Children’s Rights conference for next summer, where we will invite other schools to join us for discussions and activities based around children’s rights and our world. We are focused on positive action and making small changes which will have positive effects.