Skip to main content

Home | What we are doing in District 1020 | St Kentigern's pupils win RIBI Young Citizen Award

Whitburn Rotary Club proposed this caring project for the award

A group put forward via Whitburn Rotary Club has won one of the categories in the RIBI Young Citizen Awards. An absolutely magnificent achievement by our young people who are to be invited to RIBI conference in April to receive their award.

In 2011 a group was set-up in St Kentigern's Academy, Blackburn, led by teacher Lee McLachlan, with the aim of becoming a Rights Respecting School. The group comprised a wide range of stakeholders including members of the community, community police officer, parents/guardians, teachers, support staff and pupils. A Rights Respecting School is a school which aims to put the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of the school ethos and culture.

Their main aim is to promote children’s rights as written in the UNCRC within the school and wider community. The group of 10 pupils from different year groups was formed as part of the Rights Respecting Schools Award.

Their biggest achievement to date has been making a short docu-film entitled “Seen and Heard” for UNICEF. The pupils won a National UNICEF competition with their original script and concept which focused on Article 27 of the UNCRC – The right to an adequate standard of living. The final film which was produced by a professional film maker will now be shown in schools throughout the country and form part of a UNICEF education pack.

Senior pupil, Moriah Jackson, has written a detailed account of her experience of the film project which highlights the pupils as active global citizens who are committed to giving children and young people a voice (Article 12, “This is a film which illustrates the reality faced by many within the UK. We made it because we wanted to expose hidden poverty amongst children our age.”

This was the opening line used to introduce the documentary-style film. The concept for the film was created by the group to make people more aware of hidden poverty and the fact that 1 in 3 children live in poverty in the UK. After an initial meeting with the film produce, Stuart Boreham and Jilly Hiller from UNICEF to work on the storyboard, they tweaked and adapted the script and decided that a documentary style film would be more hard hitting than a drama– with interviews around the school and individual discussions on the issue of hidden poverty and the definition of ‘a good standard of living’.

The Seen and Heard group comprises ten students, of all ages and year groups, from St Kentigern’s Academy. Their names are: Daniel Reid, Gillian Keast, Moriah Jackson, Mark Tighe, Eoin Tighe, Amy Wilkinson, Kirsten McDonald, Laurie Cleghorn, Rosie Kane, Timothy Simpson and Kiera McKay

The group were invited to receive their award at the RIBI Conference in Bournemouth in an awards ceremony shown live on Saturday 14th April, on BBC News 24. This can be seen on BBC iplayer at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01gkfj5/Rotary_Young_Citizen_Awards_2012/  The St Kentigern's Academy pupils are on first. 

The Seen and Heard group also featured on the the 10pm BBC News 24 bulletin. Follow this link for a clip on the BBC website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17658469

 


Add a public comment:

Comments, once approved, will be displayed on this page

Your email address will not be displayed on the page, but is required should you require contacting.

all fields are required

Your name: Region/Country: (2-30 characters) e.g. UK
Email address confirm email

 

Enquiry:
:Answer: 5+3 = Note - if you get the answer wrong, the comment will not be submitted!