Third UNICEF Gold Award for Boghall

The school has been working with UNICEF UK since 2009 and was awarded a Gold Award in 2011, 2016 and most recently at the end of 2023. They celebrated their huge achievement with a Gold Celebration Assembly recently. 

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. 

Gold is the highest accolade given by UNICEF UK and shows a deep and thorough commitment to children's rights at all levels of school life. There are over 600 schools across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales that have received Gold.

Boghall Headteacher Katy Leamy said: " We are delighted to have had our Gold Award renewed and be able to welcome UNICEF to Boghall Primary to see how the Rights of the Child is very much at the heart of our school culture. We are very proud of our children and how they live through their rights in school each day.  A huge thank you to our children, staff, partners and families for their ongoing support with our Rights Respecting journey."

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. 

UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Programme Director, Martin Russell, said: "Boghall Primary very much impressed us with their strong focus on pupil participation, there are many different ways children can feed into decision making and leadership in the school. Children felt listened to, that their views matter and they could make a difference.  We've seen how pupils understand their rights and show respect for each other, show a strong desire to make a difference to the lives of children in their own school and in other countries around the world, and regularly speak out and support projects in their community and globally. Boghall Primary has fully embraced the Convention on the Rights of the Child and we are very pleased to accredit the school with Gold: Rights Respecting."

For more information on the Unicef Rights Respecting School programme, please visit https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/