International Human Rights Day takes place every year on Thursday December 10th. This is to mark the anniversary of the ‘International Declaration of Human Rights’. This year was the 61st anniversary and at Harrow Way we celebrated this on Friday 11th December.
The focus for the day was taken from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Article 6. ‘All children have a right to life. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily’. In preparation for the day students had been negotiating classroom charters based around the rights of the child.
Students started the day in their tutor groups with a recap on ‘The Declaration of Human Rights’ They also explored child mortality rates throughout the world and the effects of health on child survival.
The whole school was then broken down into carefully planned and prepared vertical groups so that each group had students of every age range. Students then rotated around the school where each department had planned workshops based on the above.
This created an exciting and informative day whilst continuing to embed Citizenship explicitly into the whole school curriculum and to raise awareness of Human Rights issues at a global level in keeping with RRSA objectives.
At break and lunchtime there was a Faitrade stall that was run by the newly appointed Year 10 UNICEF Peer Educators. Students also had the opportunity to try out Fairtrade footballs, give a handprint to demonstrate their support for human rights and take part in a number of competitions. The Fairtrade stall raised £80.00.
The day was supported by: Fair’s Fayre-A local Fair-trade supplier and Fair Deal Trading (www.fairdealtrading.com/) a supplier of ethically sourced footballs and sportswear. Fairdeal provided the footballs for use and donated a football as a raffle prize.
Hilary Delany
Head of RE and Citizenship