What is the Rights Respecting Schools Award?

Coram Life Education is proud to be working with UNICEF UK, through the Rights Respecting Schools Award, to support schools in helping their pupils thrive. 

UNICEF UK's Rights Respecting Schools Award can be achieved by schools demonstrating that they create a safe and inspiring place to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. It's based on the UN convention on the rights of the child - the UNCRC.

The SCARF curriculum and resources help schools implement the UNCRC and meet the 9 outcomes of the RRSA standards.

What is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)?

The UNCRC is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history. 

The 54 articles of the UNCRC cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to which all children everywhere are entitled.

UNICEF UK have created a child-friendly version of the Articles of the UNCRC.

The RRSA "Aims to build the capacity of children and young people as rights-holders to claim their rights, and the capacity of adults as duty bearers to fulfill their obligations. Child rights education helps adults, children and young people to work together. In this way it provides the space and encouragement for the meaningful participation and sustained civic engagement of children and young people."  UNICEF UK

UNICEF UK and the Rights of the Child webinar

We've teamed up with UNICEF's Rights Respecting Schools Award programme director, Martin Russell, to bring you this free webinar. Free to all teachers, this inspiring webinar explores the positive impact of teaching about rights.

How does SCARF support the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) three strands?

SCARF’s values of Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship, which underpin all its content, align strongly with the UNCRC articles. The whole-school SCARF toolkit supports schools in creating and maintaining an environment where the rights of the child are promoted, realised and protected. 

Because children's rights are not conditional - not 'earned' only by those children who also take responsibility in equal measure - the language of respect is, instead, introduced and used throughout UNICEF's programmes: respect for themselves, respect for the rights of others and respect for property and the environment. 

SCARF resources reflect this language to support children, teachers and other adults in school to embed the concept of unconditional rights.

The SCARF curriculum and related resources support schools in demonstrating the RRSA three strands of effective teaching and learning about rights, through rights and for rights, in a holistic way.

Click on each of the three links below to see how SCARF supports each of the three strands and the 9 outcomes of the RRS silver and gold awards:

Strand A: teaching and learning about rights

Strand B: teaching and learning through rights

Strand C: teaching and learning for rights

Coram Life Education and SCARF are part of the Coram family which includes promoting children’s rights and the UNCRC. Find out more about how Coram's work promotes the rights of the child.