Working Towards
and applying for Bronze
These steps will help you work towards Bronze: Rights Committed.
Before you start working towards Bronze, please visit our Getting Started page and ensure that you have registered with us.
Working towards Bronze is a planning stage. We ask you to work through and complete a Bronze Application Form which you then email to your Professional Adviser .
Our team will review your Bronze Application form, send you feedback and award your school as Bronze: Rights Committed.
Please work through the drop-down boxes below to access guidance and resources to support your journey to Bronze: Rights Committed.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Professional Adviser. You can find their details here.
Questionnaires are optional for all schools and are compulsory for those in London.
Download access to questionnaires and guidance
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DO THE QUESTIONNAIRES?
We see these questionnaires as having a dual purpose:
- They provide schools with a standard approach to take stock of their RRSA progress with pupils and staff at key points
- They provide data for our wider evaluation.
We will use this data for our own evaluation purposes to help ensure that we are having a positive impact on the lives of children. We analyse the data across schools we work with to identify the difference the RRSA makes for children. You can see how we use this information by looking at our impact reports. You may also find it useful to read The RRSA Theory of Change which explains our vision of change for children and schools.
Our evaluation findings are shared with a range of stakeholders who are interested in RRSA – such as schools, local authorities and current or potential funding partners.
London Schools
From April 2025, all London schools are required to use these questionnaires, as part of our funding from the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). This data will be aggregated across schools by UNICEF UK into regular reports, which will be provided to the VRU to monitor and evaluate the impact of RRSA. This supports the wider monitoring and evaluation of activities to support their London Inclusion Charter. It is not being collected to assess individual school performance.
The questionnaires are optional for schools outside London.
Ensure you have the support of senior leaders in school as RRSA is about whole school improvement and change. It requires strategic direction and commitment as there is nothing in school your rights respecting journey will not affect.
Read more about informing and engaging your whole school community, including PowerPoints that can be used with pupils, staff and governors and a template letter that can be used with parents and carers.
Attend Achieving Bronze training and explore our introducing the CRC webpage. You will find a Summary of the CRC, as well as the CRC in full. Our Myths and Misconceptions about the CRC booklet is also a useful resource.
You will find a simplified version of the CRC and articles in BSL on the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland website. Plus other languages and formats can be found here.
Your steering group is made up of pupils and adults representing your school community. They will lead awareness raising and understanding of the CRC by playing an active role in your school’s rights respecting journey. Read our guidance about setting up your Steering Group.
Download the Bronze Application form here.
Complete parts 1-3 based on your actions above.
Part 1 asks you for information on how you have informed your school community about your participation in the RRSA, how pupils are involved in this work and also how you have developed your own knowledge and understanding of rights and RRSA to support you to lead this work in your school.
Part 2 is your Action Plan for Silver. You will need to review your school’s current practice against the Silver Outcome Descriptors included and use the ’RAG rating’ to prioritise your areas for development. Reflect on the questions and resources to help frame the actions you need to undertake to achieve Silver: Rights Aware.
Use our Achieving the RRSA Outcomes page to help you identify actions to strengthen each strand.
Part 3 of the form asks you to share your questionnaire findings. If using Microsoft forms, then the necessary percentages will be provided on completion and then need to be transferred to the form. For more information about questionnaires go to the Forms and Guides page.
When you have completed the above steps, send your Bronze Application Form to your regional Professional Adviser.
Your Professional Adviser will review your form and let you know if they have any questions.
If everything is in order, your Professional Adviser will award your school at Bronze: Rights Committed. You will be notified of this with an email which will also contain a link to your Bronze logo, highlight any recommendations and your next steps. A certificate will then be printed and sent to you in the post.
Once you have achieved Bronze: Rights Committed you will begin to implement your action plan, book onto Achieving Silver training and arrange your Silver accreditation visit.
It is advised that you book your Silver accreditation visit at least a term ahead, as we do get very busy particularly in the summer term.
