Equalities

Equality matters every day

We want to spend this week and everyday educating ourselves and our children about equality. To end racism and all forms of prejudice, we must work together as a community. We need to talk to our children and educate them as Rights Respecting citizens of the world.

As a school family we are all one, we all belong, we are all equal and we are all important. 

Please find below some links that you can use at home to help you talk to your children about these important issues.

Watch the story Mixed by Arree Chung. (click the link below)

Think about these questions as you watch it and talk to your grown up about them at the end.

1. What is the main problem in the story?

2. How is the problem solved?

3. What do the people of the town learn at the end?

There are many lovely books to help us talk about equality and to inspire and empower all our children.

We are a Rights Respecting School 

St Mary’s is proud to be a Rights Respecting School and we are fully supportive of the Black Lives Matter Campaign. There are numerous articles in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)  that are denied if a child is a victim of racist abuse. Please find below a list of articles that all children, everywhere should be able to enjoy without discrimination:

Article 2 (non-discrimination) The Convention applies to every child without discrimination, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status, whatever they think or say, whatever their family background.

Article 14 (freedom of thought,  belief and religion) Every child has the right to think and believe what they choose and also to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents to guide their child as they grow up. 

Article 19 (protection from violence, abuse and neglect) Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.

Article 29 (goals of education) Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

Article 30 (children from minority  or indigenous groups)

Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.

You can find a summary of the UNCRC in the attached document.  There are a number of free resources to support the teaching of rights on the Unicef website here:

UNICEF WEBSITE