Rights Respecting Schools
Pupils know that their voice is listened to and that they can make a difference. Older pupils were well prepared to participate in a respectful debate about gender stereotyping during a lesson. Weekly ‘Journey around the Word’ days immerse pupils in the culture and traditions of other countries. They learn about people from a diverse range of backgrounds. OFSTED June 2023
It’s official! We are proud to announce that we have achieved the Silver – Rights Committed award as a UNICEF Rights Respecting School.
Thank you to all our amazing children, especially the Children’s Team who have worked with so much enthusiasm and energy to help us achieve this award. We also want to say thank you to all our families and staff who have welcomed this exciting approach to enabling our children to know, understand and enjoy their rights.
There are four key areas of impact for children at a Rights Respecting school; wellbeing, participation, relationships and self-esteem.
The difference that a Rights Respecting School makes goes beyond the school gates, making a positive impact on the whole community.
- Children are healthier and happier
- Children feel safe
- Children have better relationships
- Children become active and involved in school life and the wider world
We really hope you join us in our journey towards this award, enabling our children to become the best they can be.
Article of the Half Term
This half term we are focusing on personal safety through protecting our privacy online and through all digital technologies. Article 16 states that every child has the right to privacy. The law should protect the child's private, family and home life.
Speaking Up For Ourselves
We play football on Wednesday lunchtime at school but some of us were a bit sad about this. We wanted to play more so Majella and Alice said if we get lots of ticks for playing well we could earn some more football lunchtimes. We were getting bored of one day of football and we were heartbroken. We were being good and kind when we finished football and we learned our lesson of not getting sad. Sometimes we get ticks for being good in football but we haven't earned anymore playtimes for footie so we wrote this letter to Majella and Alice. They listened to us and were so proud of us thinking for ourselves and writing the letter that they said we could play football on Fridays too. We spoke up for ourselves and school listened to us.
Year 5 & 6
Storehouse Vineyard Church
Following on from the amazing success of our RRSA pre-loved clothing boutique at our Summer Fair last year, some of our children and staff took a donation of clothes including outgrown school uniform to the Storehouse Vineyard Church in Feltham. Throughout the year they offer a wide range of activities and events from Christmas lunch for people who find themselves on their own during the festive season to English classes and wellbeing activities.
The staff were overwhelmed by the gifts from Meath. Whilst there, the Storehouse ambassadors took the team around the church to show us how our donations are helping people in need. It is an amazing community hub where people can go for clothing and food as part of a wider, holistic support network.
If you would be interested in supporting this fantastic organisation through further donations or are just curious to find out more about what they do, please visit
https://www.riversidevineyard.com/storehouse or call in at the school office.
RRSA Silver Disco
On Friday 9th February, the whole school celebrated achieving our SILVER accreditation for the Rights Respecting Schools Award. Everyone sparkled and shone and danced their socks off at the silver disco!
Campaigning for the Community
Thinking about how we can make a positive impact in our local community is at the heart of our school. We believe that our children can be pivotal in campaigning for a better environment and positive outcomes for everyone and as part of this, we are developing the work we began last year in donating, collecting and re-distributing clothing to support a sustainable future.
The recent uniform change at Meath has left us with a significant number of items which we unable to use but which is still high quality and serviceable including staff coats and fleeces. The coats will be donated to an organisation working with asylum seekers within the London Borough of Hounslow and the children's clothes will be donated to Storehouse, which is a community food, children's clothes and equipment bank in Feltham: https://www.riversidevineyard.com/storehouse
100k Walk for UNICEF and a new school car
Meath School smashed the 100k walk with the children completing over 20km in school and walking to the park whilst our amazing families clocked up and impressive 153.5km at home!
Congratulations to Toby Izzard’s family for completing a massive 38.2km – the furthest distance - walking in the woods, through the local town, cycling, walking along the boulevard at the beach and to West Ham Stadium!
We have been blown away by the children’s commitment to raising money for UNICEF and a much-needed new car for Meath. They (and their families) have walked their socks off, raising an amazing £407 to be split between UNICEF and our school car fund. We are so proud of them all working to raise awareness of, and promote children and young people’s rights on a local and global scale.
RRSA at Meath School: Speaking Out Against Fast Fashion
We are extremely proud to announce that we raised nearly £200 with our very first Pre-Loved Clothing Boutique stall at the Meath Summer Fair! The incredibly generous donations made by our families and staff meant that we were able to offer a brilliant range of pre-loved clothes for the whole family, raising money for UNICEF at the same time.
As part of our journey as a Rights Respecting School, we want to embrace every opportunity to help our children become global citizens, looking beyond the school community and out into the wider world. From starting to think about how we could make an impact beyond school to sharing our message with our customers at the fair, the children have set out on a new adventure as they think about how they can be the ‘change-makers’ of the future.
Article 13 Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law
In Points of View, the children learned how much of our waste ends up abroad for other countries to deal with. They began to think about how they could make a difference to the environment by reducing the amount of fast fashion that ends up in landfill, both here and across the world.
They decided to use a clothing sale to encourage people to re-use clothes and set to work making flyers and posters to advertise the stall. They collected, sorted and prepared the clothes during their Super Skills sessions, building on the skills they had learned about being a Hygiene Hero.
In English, they prepared the signage recycling old protest banners from the Swan Class strike against the use of palm oil in our everyday products.
On the day of the fair, we had lots of customers who found themselves bargains on the rails.
Now, following on from the success of the stall, we plan to make this a regular half termly feature where our families can swap, donate and save more clothes from landfill. Please do come along and support us at our next event on Friday 21st July.
We would like to say a huge thank you to all our families for their kind donations and support and to Friends of Meath for supporting us at the Summer Fair. Most of all, we want to say how proud we are of our brilliant children who helped to make this possible with their enthusiasm, drive and passion for making change happen.
Gardening with Owl Class
Swan Class
Swan Class have been learning about deforestation in the tropical rainforests and how this is impacting the wildlife, in particular, the orangutans that live there. We read There’s a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom by James Sellick which tells the story of an orangutan who finds her way into a little girl’s bedroom because the humans in Rang-Tan’s rainforest are destroying it and she no longer has anywhere to live.
We wanted to take action so when we read the story of Greta Thunberg, we followed her lead in speaking out about what we feel strongly about (Article 13 (freedom of expression) Every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions and to access all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law)
We made placards with our slogans asking for people to stop and think about what we are doing to the tropical rainforests and on Friday afternoon, we went on strike! Our protest helped us to share our message with the whole school. Great effort Swan Class!
Meet the Team
Adrienne Marina Ginny
Majella Ceri Alice
Sian Rebecca Michelle
Challenging gender stereotypes in sport
Our very own Leanne Bell is flying the flag for the girls at Meath School! Not only is she our brilliant PE and swimming teacher, she also has another role challenging gender stereotypes. In celebration of International Women’s Day, the RRSA Team interviewed her to find out more about her other life as a semi-professional women’s player for Billericay Town FC.
Useful Links
What UNICEF do
Here you will find more information about the RRSA
https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/