St Margaret’s Preparatory School has taken a golden opportunity to show it respects the rights of its pupils and encourages them to respect the rights of everyone else.
The Calne-based school has been awarded the highest possible accolade by the charity UNICEF after showing it was worthy of its gold award.
A spokesman for UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School programme said, “The third stage of the award means St Margaret’s has fully embedded children’s rights throughout the school’s policies, practice and ethos.”
For the past two years, St Margaret’s has been going for gold after achieving the silver status in 2017. Children were elected as ambassadors to lead campaigns, including a bid to improve air quality in the school, while pupils from Year 2 took part in the UNICEF/Clarks shoe share scheme which raised money to support education of young people around the world. More than 200 pairs of shoes were recycled.
The school’s Rights Respecting Co-ordinator, Jo Perkins, said, “Our ambassadors support children in all age groups and regularly lead discussions and assemblies on children’ rights.”
Headmaster Luke Bromwich, who took over leadership of St Margaret’s this term, added that he is delighted that the school was leading the way on such an important issue. “The award demonstrates our ongoing commitment to ensuring that outstanding pastoral care is at the forefront of everything we do here. Such an accolade is a wonderful way to celebrate the quality provision that our pupils experience at St Margaret’s Prep.”