Knights Enham Junior School
Class Charter
UNICEF
In 2002, following her study visit to Cape Breton University in Canada, Headteacher Anne Hughes agreed with staff to try to assess the impact of teaching the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by running a pilot with parallel Y6 classes. One class was taught about the UNCRC and the other wasn’t. The difference between the two classes was very noticeable within a very short time, the children even noticed how much the other class quarrelled.
At the onset of the Iraq war the pilot class were concerned with the impact the war would have on the children in Iraq. They wondered whether they would be evacuated like children in UK in WW2 and about their right to go to school. The control class focused on the violence of the conflict.
Anne Hughes feels UNCRC provided something extra that was missing, i.e. the moral framework. She says, “If this work is maintained then we can really make a difference to the next generation. Children’s self-esteem is enhanced and they realise the need to think about and empathise with other children.”
Knights Enham is not a ‘leafy suburb’ school and 55% of pupils are on the special needs register. But recently, the school’s football team won a ‘Fair Play’ award in a football tournament for 40 schools.
