Our Awards
St Edward’s Church of England Academy is proud to hold the following awards:
- Unicef UK Rights Respecting School Gold Award
- Stonewall School Champion Bronze Award
- Youth Sport Trust Youth Sport Silver Award
- Diana Award – Antibullying ambassadors 2021-2022
- Anti Bullying Alliance Bronze Award 2023 – 2024
Unicef UK Rights Respecting School Gold Award
In December 2022, we were delighted to be awarded the Rights Respecting Schools Gold Award. This was achieved through the hard work of the teachers, trustees, support staff and pupils and reflects that fact that children’s rights are embedded across the academy and underpin every fact of academy life.
Our assessor highlighted key strengths within St Edward’s:
- Confident children with a very good knowledge of rights, who are committed to helping to realise these for other children locally and globally.
- Natural links to rights are planned across the curriculum in a way that enriches the learning for all children.
- A strategic approach to senior leaders and the RRSA lead to embed a rights-based approach, outing it at the core of the school’s ethos.
- Relationships were strong with clear links to the school’s values. Children were adamant that everyone was respected and included at all times.
- Pupils were keen to share their opinions and were positive that they could make a different in school and the in the wider world.
In our report, the assessor was looking for evidence of how pupils at St Edward’s are aware of their rights, how they enjoy the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and how pupils know their views are taken seriously and that they are given opportunities to take action to uphold their rights and the rights of others.
Highlights from our report:
Children speak confidently about their rights. “Learning about rights is a constant focus from when you join the school…everyone knows about them”.
Pupils feel that, “There are lots of opportunities in this school and it’s a really safe and friendly environment” and “we are really comfortable talking to teachers about any issues…”
One pupil commented, “We talk to teachers a lot.. this school is like a family and it’s fun!”
Children described how, “Teachers treat you with dignity…they respect your privacy..”
To achieve gold, teachers, pupils and stakeholders have worked hard to embed rights across the academy: through lessons and collective worship; through the clubs, trips and activities we provide; by including pupils in decision making such as school council, anti bullying work, pupils leadership team; by adapting our polices and practice such as our anti bullying policy and through the charity work and campaigns we have taken part in. We will continue to strive to further develop our work and continue to embed the principles of the award in all we do.
The Rights Respecting School Award puts children’s rights at the heart of schools in the UK.
Unicef works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn where children are respected, their talents are nurtured, and they are able to thrive. The Rights Respecting School Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy healthy lives and to be responsible active citizens.
Article of the Week
As part of their Rights Respecting School programme, Unicef UK produces a regular resource ‘Article of the Week’ which centres on a specific Article from the Convention and features information to read, videos to watch and a range of activities to select from which parents/carers are invited to explore with their child.
Article of the Week’ activities and resources for pupils and parents/carers can be found in the pupil section of the Academy website:
Stonewall School Champion Bronze Award
Stonewall’s School Champion Award benchmarks St Edward’s Academy’s policies, curriculum and ethos against the latest best practice. Stonewall’s pioneering framework was developed by their expert Education and Youth Team.
Receiving a Stonewall School Champion Award shows that St Edward’s Academy is leading the way in celebrating diversity and supporting LGBT young people.
Youth Sport Trust Youth Sport Silver Award
The Youth Sport Award puts health and wellbeing at the heart of developing young people to ensure a brighter future for generations to come. The Youth Sport Award is a reward and celebration scheme which helps young people to evidence their learning, progress and achievement in and through sport and physical activity. It also supports young people to demonstrate the impact their involvement in sport has had on their personal development including leadership skills, health and wellbeing, and wider life skills.
There are five different levels of the Youth Sport Award: Go, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. St Edward’s Academy currently holds the Youth Sport Silver Award.