The United Nations Convention for the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) outlines the rights of every child. There are 54 articles in the UNCRC which deal with different children's rights which are vital to the wellbeing of children, and they are all equally important.

As a Rights Respecting Schools Award Gold school, Marlow Infants has fully embedded throughout the school in its policies, practice and ethos. 

Children at our school learn the importance and meaning of the rights through the curriculum and in school worship. We also share information about these rights with our school community and give ideas to parents and carers on how to explore them with their children.

This week's activities link to:

Article 12 (Respect for Children's Views)

Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.

 

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Why should you be able to share your views and opinions on matters that affect you?  

How many reasons can your child(ren) list? Here are just a few:

• Being involved in decisions makes you feel like a part of it, you have ownership. 
• Relationships between children and adults improve when there’s communication. 
• Children have some great ideas that adults might never think of. 
• It helps to prepare you for adulthood. 
• Children and young people feel valued. 
• Involving young people means there are more people to make a difference. 
• We all have different views and experiences, so including everyone means we get lots of perspectives. 
• It can help you to learn about politics and democracy. 
• It is your right to be involved in decisions which affect you!

At Marlow Infants, we encourage children to express their views and opinions and listen to the views and opinions of others. School is there to help children to learn, so it is important to put children at the centre. We give children lots of different opportunities to be leaders and to share their views with adults about the school, looking after the environment, their rights and about the curriculum in school. 

Here are some suggestions for activities that you can do at home to explore Article 12.

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Making choices

Talk about why it is important for children to have the opportunity to make choices. Talk about choosing at school – snack choices, who to play with etc. Discuss why is it.

 This story may help discussion about choices.  

 

 

 

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The views and feelings of others

Think about what your face looks like when you like something, when you don’t like something, or when you are scared or excited. Can you tell how someone else is feeling by looking at their facial expressions? How can we ‘hear’ people even when they don’t speak so that we can respect their views? 

Have a go at drawing faces showing different expressions. What do their eyes look like? Their eyebrows? Their mouths?

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Everyone Gets a Say

Listen to this story and discuss why it's important to listen to a lot of people's ideas. 

 

 

 

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Children's rights

Watch this video about children’s rights. Can you draw the page in the storybook where Viz, Leepa and Zooko explain what Article 12 is all about? (It’s at 6 mins)