“Education for global citizenship helps enable young people to develop the core competencies which allow them to actively engage with the world, and help to make it a more just and sustainable place.”
- Oxfam.org.uk
At Riversdale Primary School, we strongly believe in developing children as Global Citizens, who actively engage in activities to bring about positive social change. Through curricular and extra-curricular avenues, as well as continuous use of rights respecting language, all staff members take every opportunity to advance the children’s understanding of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
This page has been dedicated to the various activities that take place within the school, in relation to this aspect of our ethos. Please check back regularly to see how the students are being educated about the rights of children and how they are supporting others to access their rights locally, nationally and globally.
Climate Change Day - UNCRC Articles 12, 13, 24, 27 & Sustainable Development Goals 7, 11, 12 & 13.
Christmas Jumper Day - All UNCRC Articles & Sustainable Development Goals
This Christmas, Riversdale raised money for Save the Children, in order to support their work towards the global implementation of the UNCRC. Almost every country in the world has signed up to the UNCRC and real progress has been made in areas such as under‐5 child mortality, access to education and absolute poverty. But many countries still fail to prioritise and promote children’s rights, especially the rights of children living in the worst forms of poverty and deprivation or affected by conflict. Thanks to the pupils donning their favourite festive knits and the generosity of families across the Riversdale community, the school have been able to raise an amazing £487 (not including Gift Aid) for the charity. Knowing that we have all pulled together to help make the lives of others that little bit better, despite experiencing difficult times ourselves, is truly heartwarming. Here are just some of the things the money raised is spent on:
Tin Can Challenge - UNCRC Articles 24 & 27
The Tin Can Challenge is an initiative sweeping across schools in the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth in order to raise supplies for local food banks. The ongoing Coronavirus crisis has seen a record number of families rely on foodbanks, just as many have to close their doors for lack of volunteer staff and supplies. The Riversdale community has risen to the challenge and each class has been competing against each other to see who can collect the most cans.
Odd Socks Day - UNCRC Articles 2, 12 and 19 & Sustainable Development Goal 16
To celebrate Anti-Bullying Week, the pupils and staff of Riversdale wore odd socks. This simple gesture was used a symbol of everyone's uniqueness and children explored the relevance this has with regards to anti-bullying. The students explored diversity and inclusion as well as the need to celebrate our differences which leads towards being positive role models and global citizens.
Spread Happiness Like Sunshine - UNCRC Articles 6, 23 and 29 & Sustainable Development Goal 3
The announcement of a second lockdown resonated a great deal with the staff and students, as vulnerable members of the community will be isolated from each other in order to keep them safe. In order to combat the feeling of isolation and the negative impact this has on a person's mental health and wellbeing, the staff and students of Riversdale Primary School asked members of the community to share contact deails for a neighbour or family member that lives alone or is shielding. The school produced pieces of artwork based on the theme of brightness and positivity which were sent to those nominated to help brighten up their day and spread a little joy in a potentially dark time. This small project enabled the students to understand the importance of social interaction for mental health and wellbeing, discover more about the term vulnerability in realtion to disabilities and foster a respect for others, whilst applying their art work skills. The recipients of the artwork have been very grateful and some have written personal letters of thanks to the children. We are so proud to have helped members of our local and national community.
Small Actions Project - All UNCRC Articles and Sustainable Development Goals
In order to celebrate our 1000th tweet and the school's RRSA Day, we have launched our Small Actions Project. We are challenging every member of our school community to commit to one small action for positive social change with the aim of bettering our local, national and/or global communities. Many of the children have suggested things such as walking to school more often, using less plastic, ensuring they reduce food wastage or even helping out in the local community, for example volunterring in a local food bank or soup kitchen. We are very proud of the actions that our children, staff and families have commited to and challenge you to make a small change too. We will keep everyone up to date with how we are getting on.
The Power of One - UNCRC Articles 6, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 28, 29, 31, 36 & 39
The school was recently visited by Soren Bennick Productions who performed their show: The Power of One. The show is presented by actors who use boxes, colours, and masks to vividly portray what bullying is, what can be done about it, and how every child has the power of one: the power to report and deal with bullying when they see it. Importantly, the children are encouraged not to be a bystander and allow bullying to happen - a message that we strongly believe is essential for postive social change. Bullying can have a tremendously negative impact on a child's development, in so many ways, and it is therefore vital that it is stopped before it can take hold. The children gained a great deal from the event and they have all made a pledge to be upstanders and use The Power of One.
Harvest Festival - UNCRC Articles 24 & 27
Today, children from across the school visited St Barnabas church to celebrate the Harvest Festival. The school has been busy collecting and wide range of donations, such as canned and dried goods as well as hygiene products, for the local food bank. In small groups, the children took their donations over to the church, where they heard a talk about harvest and its importance from Reverend Joy Boyce. As a Rights Respecting School, this is an important event in the year as it focuses on Articles 24 and 27 of the UNCRC, which state that everyone has the right to have their basic needs met, such as access to nutritious food. We are very pleased with the support from the school community and that the donations provided will make an important difference in many people's lives.
WE Day - All UNCRC Articles and Sustainable Development Goals
Our former Learning Council members were awarded tickets to WE Day 2019 as a reward for all of their contributions toward improving the local, national and global community, in particular their work with Mary's Meals. As part of this event, the children watched a series of inspirational talks and lectures about a number of UNCRC and Sustainable Goal related topics such as gender equality, good health and wellbeing including mental health, affordable and clean energy and the end of poverty. These talks were delivered by a range of well known public figures including Naomi Campbell, Julia Gillard (former PM of Australia) and His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex. The children learnt a great deal and the impact that this will have with regards to developing them further as socially aware global citizens is immeasurable.
The "Read for Good" Readathon - UNCRC Articles 23, 24, 28 & 31
All students are Riversdale will participate in the Readathon challenge this term. Read for Good is the UK’s national sponsored reading event for schools. It encourages children to read for pleasure whilst raising money for, and awareness of the charity. For children in hospital, books are incredibly important - they comfort, distract, reassure and entertain. Throughout the year, the charity provides brand new books and storyteller visits to brighten up the days of children in hospitals across the UK. Even children unable to leave their beds can choose books from its specially designed mobile bookcase. The Riversdale students have already begun working very hard to raise money through their sponsored read and we look forward to seeing how much our children have been able to contribute to this worthwhile cause.
Battersea Power Station Visit - UNCRC Article 29 & Sustainable Development Goals 7, 12 and 13
Students in Year 4 visited Battersea Power Station recently to participate in a tour and a workshop around sustainable development. The children learnt about how the power station once worked, using fossil fuels as a method of generating electricity and how this has impacted the environment and climate change. The workshop then explored more environmentally friendly methods of generating power as well as how the power station is being renovated to create a new community within London, reusing the site and many of its features.
Parliament Week - UNCRC Articles 2, 5, 12, 13 and Sustainable Development Goal 5
Over the course of this week, children from across the school participated in a series of activities to help them develop their understanding of democracy and the UK Parliament. This provided the children with the ability to critique current political practices, understand how laws are passed and most importantly that they each have their own opinion and a right to voice this through the democratic process. Some classes even learnt about the Suffragette Movement and how women had to fight for the ability to have an equal vote to men. You can find a breakdown of what each class did in the example document here.
Safer Internet Day - UNCRC Articles 17 & 36
Riversdale students, from Nursery through to Year 6, all participated in Safer Internet Day this year. The aim of the day was to explore the positive and negative aspects of internet usage, thereby providing students with the skills to keep themselves safe online. The students were introduced to their right to find information that is not harmful online, as well as how they can avoid potential exploitation or harm. The theme for this year was "consent". Students discussed the importance of consent when uploading images and videos on to social media and the links to personal data. It was an excellent day for the children as they were able to participate in an assembly, lessons and workshops.
Mary's Meals - UNCRC Article and Sustainable Development Goals 4 & 10
The children at Riversdale Primary School, lead by the members of the Learning Council, have spent several weeks donating school equipment for the Mary's Meals Backpack Project. "Many children across the world do not have access to decent quality learning equipment, something which we take for granted," stated one of the council members "and we have a responsibility to help however we can!" Through the local community's support and dedication, the school were able to compile over 60 backpacks filled with school equipment and hygiene products to support young children in Malawi to access a quality education. You can find out more about Mary's Meals and ways to support them by following this link.
NSPCC - UNCRC Articles 5, 12, 15, 16 & 19
This year, we were visited by representatives from the NSPCC to deliver their Speak out Stay safe programme. With the help of their mascot Buddy, the child-friendly, interactive assemblies and workshops help teaches children, aged 5-11, about safeguarding in a lively, interactive and memorable way. The children gained a great deal from this, including a better understanding of abuse in all its forms, how to recognise the signs and know how to protect themselves. This covered online abuse in a very detailed and interesting way and helped dispel some misconceptions regarding this.
As well as the children participating, the parents took part in their own workshop, specifically about eSafety and looked into ways in which they can safeguard their children when using the internet.
Fair Trade (Year 3 Topic) - UNCRC Articles 2, 17 & 24
In Year 3, we have been learning about what trade is. The children were shocked to find out how much workers get paid, and learnt that for the workers to get more money it was important to buy fair trade products. We researched, using the internet, the difference in price between the products and worked out even though the fair-trade products cost more, this is because more of the money goes to the workers. Now the children are aware of this, many of them felt it was important (where possible) to buy fair trade products.
Earth Day - UNCRC Articles 24 & 29
Earth Day is an event supported by 192 countries, and occurs on April 22nd every year. On this day, people are asked to think about the issues that negatively affect our world, and ways in which we can help to lessen their impacts. To support this cause, Peridot Class decided to create and hand out information leaflets. We explained some of the big challenges the Earth faces, such as climate change and deforestation, and how these threaten our right to a clean and safe environment. We then wrote about our responsibility to protect our world and the small steps we could take to make this happen, like turning off lights when we leave a room and never leaving our electronics on standby.
Energy Fortnight - UNCRC Article 29 & Sustainable Development Goal 12
As part of our focus on sustainable development and helping to educate our community about responsible consumption of energy, Riversdale students participated in “Energy Fortnight.” Over a two-week period, the children participated in a range of activities looking at how we can not only save money in our homes and at school through responsible energy consumption, but they also researched different ways that energy is produced. Some even set themselves energy challenges where they timed how long they could go without using electronic devices. How long did they last? You will have to ask them yourselves. We are very proud of the work that was achieved over this fortnight and the quality of homework produced was outstanding. The eco-council had a hard time picking the winners of the homework challenge. You can see these up on the Eco Warriors Sustainable Development display in the top hall.
The Empire Windrush - UNCRC Articles 8, 13, 30
Key Stage 1 and 2 students participated in an interactive assembly, delivered by Bigfoot Arts Education, all about the mass migration of afro-caribbean people to the UK aboard The Empire Windrush. This was the school's first activity linked to Black History Month this year and was a fantastic way to learn all about how and why many people left their homes to build a new life here. The school believe that this is a very important part of history, not just for the UK, but for our school and local area, as we believe that our many afro-caribbean children should be aware of their identity, their history and their culture, all of which was addressed in this assembly. As well as this, it was a fantastic way to explore the concept of diversity and teach all of our children to think about their history and cultures and the many wonderful things that our diverse nature gives us as a global community.
24/27 Week (Habitats and Homelessness) - UNCRC Articles 6, 9, 19, 22, 24 & 27
Over the course of 2 weeks, students from across all key stages participated in the 24/27 week(s). The aim of this was to combine the two subjects science and PSHE in exploring the concept of habitats and homes. The idea came from the Rights Representatives (Learning Council), who noticed that the number of homeless people in the local area had increased and they wanted to look into this issue. The week began with all classes visiting King George's Park to look at the lake and the River Wandle, examining the various animals and plants that have made these places their homes. From this, classes started to explore what makes a home, and then, through various activities across the curriculum, students began to discuss homelessness. This was a very interesting couple of weeks, where the children expressed a range of ideas and view points, focusing particularly on our responsibility to help those in need. Some classes developed short stories about the topic, some wrote to their local MPs asking for more to be done to support the homeless, whilst others spent an hour in the playground experiencing what it may be like, trying to sleep on the streets. A great deal has been learnt through these weeks and we encourage the students to continue campaigning for more support for the homeless.
UNCRC Art Gallery - ALL
As part of the school's aim to educate the local community about children's rights, the Rights Representatives (Learning Council) decided that the school should work together to create an Art Gallery that represents the various UNCRC Articles. This was displayed at the school curriculum event for current and prospective parents to see. The art gallery was a fantastic idea as it introduced children and parents to new UNCRC articles that they may not have heard of before. The gallery itself was really well received during the curriculum event, where Steven also gave parents details of a website where they could find an explanation of each article, as well as the school website page, where they can find the Rights Representatives meeting minutes, and the Global Citizens page, where they can see what we do at Riversdale for fundraising, campaigning and educating each other about children's rights.
New Playground Charter - UNCRC Articles 2, 11, 12, 15, 24 & 31
The Rights Representatives (Learning Council) have worked together to produce a brand new "Playground Charter". The document identifies which UNCRC articles are relevant to outdoor play and the different ways that Riversdale students can support each other in accessing these. Although behaviour has been outstanding since Level 1 RRSA was achieved, the children believe that this charter will be a great resource to show future students, and to remind current students, how to interact and behave in a way that allows all children access to their rights, by having something in classrooms and playgrounds to refer to. Take a look at our charter here.
Healthy Eating Day - UNCRC Article 24
At Riversdale, we continually encourage our children to support themselves and each other in accessing their rights. As part of this, our Key Stage 2 students took part in a Healthy Eating Day. The children participated in workshops, both in and out of class, during the day, looking at what makes a healthy and varied diet. This workshop helped to teach children what a healthy diet looks like, thereby allowing them to make informed healthy choices in the future.
"I never really understood what nutritious food really meant... I do now. I am definitely going to make better food and drink choices."(Year 4 student)
Holocaust Memorial Day - UNCRC Articles 14, 19, 30 & 38
"How can life go on?" was the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017. The aftermath of the Holocaust and of subsequent genocides continues to raise challenging questions for individuals, communities and nations. Throughout this day, the students at Riversdale discussed and explored the themes of persecution (Key Stage 2) and diversity (Key Stage 1 & EYFS). The children all had very insightful contributions to make and were able to make very clear links between historical and current events and their human rights.
Christmas Productions - UNCRC Article 26
As part of our continuing focus on respecting human rights, Year 5 and 6 performed an adaptation of a musical nativity called “It takes a village!” The performance included scenes in the modern day, which explored the differing attitudes towards supporting those that have experienced hardship. Below, a Year 6 student explains more.
“The Year 5 and 6 Christmas production was all about how the kindness of one man, the stable owner, encouraged everyone in the village to come together to help Mary and Joseph. They helped in any way they could – even through small and simple gestures like bringing blankets or making tea – to make the birth of Jesus a happy moment. The message of the show, to me, is that everyone should give a helping hand and that even if you help a little bit, it still counts.”
(Year 6 student)
Food Bank Donations - UNCRC Articles 24 & 27
This term, Rainbow, Sunshine (Reception) and Garnet (Year 6) classes have been working together to build a stockpile of tinned and long life food for donation to a local food bank. The classes chose to focus on Articles 24 and 27 of the UNCRC this term, which states that everyone has the right to have their basic needs met, such as access to nutritious food. Therefore, the children set to work, and over the last few weeks, have collected whatever they could to help those in need this winter. The reception classes went along to St Barnabas Church in Southfields to drop off the donations on December 16th. We hope that all of the donated food has made a difference to those that have received it.
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