The award recognises Uplands Junior School's achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice within the school and beyond.
UNICEF works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. The Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.
Headteacher Suzanne Webster-Smith said: "We are very proud to be the only Wolverhampton school to have the Gold level of the award.
"It has helped us to put children's rights at the centre of everything we do and empowered our pupils to take action on a whole range of issues from the plight of refugees, air pollution, climate change, mental health and health systems around the world."
"We began the award in 2017 and have moved through the Bronze and Silver stages to finally achieving Gold in February, with the support of a group of 12 pupil Rights Ambassadors, one from each class in our school."
Brenda Wile, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Deputy Director of Education, said: "Schools involved in the Rights Respecting Schools Award work towards the recognition that they have embedded children’s and young people’s rights in their school’s practice and ethos.
“They are required to implement 3 evidence based strands that cover the leadership of the school, knowledge and understanding of children’s rights, ethos and relationships and the empowerment of children and young people.
"Uplands Junior School has worked hard to gain this accreditation and, on behalf on the council, I’d like to congratulate all the pupils and staff on this wonderful achievement.”
More than 1.6 million children in the UK now attend a Rights Respecting School and nearly 5,000 schools up and down the country are working through the award on a journey to become fully Rights Respecting.
