Mount St Catherine's Primary on the right track with UNICEF

THE acting Principal of Mount St Catherine’s Primary School, Mrs Anne-Marie McLaughlin, recently was in Rome where she attended the European Conference of Sacred Heart Principals.

She was one of those from Sacred Heart schools in 12 countries where 70 of those are UNICEF Rights Respecting seats of learning.

She told the Gazette, “We are delighted to be in the company of many of our European Sacred Heart network of schools, each being a UNICEF Rights Respecting school, one of which is St Catherine’s College here in Armagh.

“It was wonderful opportunity to share knowledge and perspectives on key issues for our young people today and into the future, most especially those of justice, peace and the environment. The schools seek to connect and support each other with exchange and online projects.”

At that she highlighted what she called ‘the incredible leadership’ of Mrs Jolene Mc Caul in bringing this project to life at Mount Saint Catherine’s, saying, “She she embodies the principles of Rights Respecting Schools.”

It was in June this year that Mount Saint Catherine’s was awarded the prestigious Gold Award for its role in UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School programme.

Mrs McCaul explained, “UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights. The Rights Respecting Schools Award is granted to schools which show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school, the community and across the world.

“Gold is the highest accolade given by UNICEF UK and it recognises a deep and thorough commitment to children’s rights at all levels of school life.”

She continued, “There are just over 500 schools across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales which currently hold the Gold award, so it is a fantastic achievement for the children, staff and community of Mount Saint Catherine’s to have received it.

“We have been working with UNICEF UK to ensure that our school is a safe and inspiring place to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive.

“Our Rights Respecting Schools approach embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.

“Rights Respecting Schools take a Child Rights-based approach towards all that they do. Here at Mount St Catherine’s the whole school community is taught, and learns, about rights through training, the school curriculum, assemblies, class charters, displays around school, and through focus on different rights from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, across the school year.

“By modelling rights-respecting language and attitudes, and by making strategic decisions that involve students, we teach and learn through rights,” Mrs McCaul stressed. “By being ambassadors for the rights of others, all members of the school community develop as rights-respecting citizens.

“For our school community this Gold award is a public acknowledgement of how seriously the rights of children are taken by everyone who works and learns within our school, including children, parents and teachers.

“Participation in the Rights Respecting Schools Award over the last four years has had an incredibly positive impact on pupils and the school as a whole. By putting children’s rights at the heart of our school, we have embedded their rights within everything that we do.

“And we would like to thank all of our fantastic pupils as they embody the values of the UNCRC and uphold the rights of all in everything that they do every day.

“We would also like to thank Mount Saint Catherine’s staff for their dedication and hard work in ensuring that teaching about Rights, for Rights and through Rights has been effectively embedded across the school curriculum.

“Thanks also to our community, Governors and School Leaders, who have ensured that the Rights of children - as embodied by the UNCRC - underpin the policies and practices at Mount St Catherine’s every single day.”