PUPILS and staff have attended a “Super Ambassadors” conference to highlight the importance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Caldicot School Year 10 student ambassadors made a presentation at the Monmouthshire Healthy School Team event in Usk, and talked about their campaign to embed the rights of the child into day-to-day school life and within the local community.

They related how the UNCRC Charter was introduced to pupils during Anti-Bullying Week 2017, when all pupils from Year Seven to Year 13 were asked which of the 42 Articles in the charter were most important to them and their feedback was used to design a personal rights charter for Caldicot.

Pupils from St Mary’s RC Primary in Chepstow said they would volunteer to become “Super Ambassadors” and would arrange and present an assembly on what they had learnt and invite the school’s governors. They hoped to organise lots of activities to raise awareness of rights.

Joining the youngsters at the Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel was Sally Holland, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, who has championed the scheme, which aims to encourage pupils and teachers to think about what rights are important. 

Pupils elect “Super Ambassadors” at the beginning of every year to carry out three duties - to inform other pupils about the commissioner and her powers; ensure other pupils know about children’s rights under the UNCRC; and to carry out special missions for the commissioner in their school.

The scheme provides inspiring ideas to embed rights at school, home and with public organisations such as local authority departments working with children and young people.