Acland Burghley School, in Camden, race towards Bronze
with London Mayor's funding
Acland Burghley School are a large mixed comprehensive school in the London Borough of Camden, the school is part of LaSWAP sixth form consortium with 3 other secondary schools.
They are the only school in the UK with a resident orchestra and share their premises with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. They have a specialist resource provision ‘The Base’ for students with autism.
The school registered to become a UNICEF UK Rights Respecting School in March 2024 having heard about the offer from the London Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). They were attracted by the additional support available to complete the Award from Camden Learning and the Camden Child Rights Steering Group, which they subsequently joined. The RRSA Coordinator in school, Dixie McLean said, “I wanted to use the steering group to work with local schools so that the Award is used to support whole school development and is embedded, rather than seen as something separate or additional.”
The school are currently working towards the Bronze award and have briefed the Senior Leadership team and the Personal Health Social Citizenship and Economic Education (PSHCEE) team. The head of school and the RRSA Coordinator have attended Achieving Bronze training run by members of the UNICEF UK RRSA team with the Camden Child Rights Steering Group. Dixie McLean RRSA Coordinator shared her hopes for the impact of the Award at Acland Burghley “We are hoping that student voice will become more systematically embedded in our school and that students will take further interest in promoting other’s rights.”
Acland Burghley are one of 5 secondary schools in Camden who have signed up for the Award since the Mayor’s funding was announced. These schools will be supported through further training provided by UNICEF UK as well as through local hub meetings run by the Camden Child Rights Steering Group. Dixie shared her thoughts on the next steps, “I feel very confident in applying to Bronze now and I am looking forward to speaking with other Camden Secondaries about how they plan to implement their plans to embed children’s rights into their policies and practice.”
