What is the Rights Respecting Schools Award?

Firrhill High School is a Rights Respecting School and our Equalities work is underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Firrhill was awarded the Unicef Gold: Rights Respecting Award in 2019 following on from being successfully accredited at Silver level in 2018 and Bronze level in 2017. We gained further Gold level accreditation in March 2022.

The Unicef Gold: Rights Respecting Award is the final stage of the Rights Respecting Schools programme. Gold level charts Firrhill’s progress through 3 Strands aiming to further embed and broaden:

Teaching and Learning about rights – through training, curriculum, assemblies, topics, focus weeks and displays

Teaching and learning through rights – by modelling rights respecting language and attitudes

Being ambassadors for the rights of others – developing as rights respecting citizens

Firrhill has explicitly adopted a child rights approach based around the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and has embedded this through school policy, practice and culture.

Further information on the Award and the UNCRC is available at –