PUPILS at a Kingswinford primary school can now happily proclaim to ‘know their rights’ after they were granted a prestigious Unicef award.

Glynne Primary School has achieved Unicef’s Level 2 Rights Respecting School Award – the first in the West Midlands to do so.

The award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school.

Victoria Saunders, deputy headteacher, said: “We are extremely proud to be the first school in the West Midlands to have achieved this award and to be acknowledged for the mutual respect and empathy that staff and pupils have for each other within our school community and wider community.”

The award aims to put the United Nation’s ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ at the heart of a school’s planning, policies and practice.

Mrs Saunders said: “At Glynne, pupils from reception to year 6 have an understanding of the UN convention of Children's Rights. The rights are embedded within the school ethos and children's rights are linked into the curriculum.

“Pupils not only understand how they can access their rights but they also campaign to support the rights of children globally.”

Among their work, Glynne Primary pupils support The Black Country Foodbank, written letters to MPS, and carried out fundraising for their link school in The Gambia, helping to ensure those in poverty have a ‘right to an education’.

Unicef UK rights respecting schools programme director, Frances Bestley, said: “The school very much impressed us with the confident way in which children are positive participatory citizens who make a difference close to home and globally.

“The Glynne Primary School has fully embraced the Convention on the Rights of the Child and we are very pleased to accredit the school with Unicef UK’s Rights Respecting School Award Level 2.”