A New Session & New Charters
A new session sees all the classes at Riverbank, including the nursery, put together their new Class Charters.
A class charter is a wee bit like a set of class rules. The charter is a joint effort. That is to say that the pupils decide the rules they would like to have in their class and how they will achieve these rules and, the class teacher endorses the statements in the charter by saying how they will help the pupils in the class stick to the charter. An example of this would be the children agreeing to do their best all the time and the teacher stating that they will provide engaging and enjoyable lessons.
The whole school charter always mirrors the class charters. The RRSA group, within the school, visit the classes and take note of the recurring themes in the class charters and these themes are the ones which appear in the whole school charter. There are always many similarities in what each class puts together as the pupils come up with the same rules for their classes on a regular basis.
Like the whole school charter, the class charters usually have a theme and the children sign up to the charter, in 
some way. The whole school charter has everyone in the school sign up by decorating a butterfly which is part of the charter.
The whole school charter and the class charters are always linked to the UNCRC. Obviously, Article 28 (Every child has the right to an education) will appear most often, along with Article 29 (Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full). In keeping with the Pupil Council and Interest Groups Article 12 (Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously) appears frequently along with Article 24 (Every child has the right to the best possible health….health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment…). And…of course…everyone’s favourite which is linked to Rainbow Time in the school – Article 31 (Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities).
This session we have seen quite a variety of themes for the charters. Some were put together using ICT and others were drawn and coloured on a theme suggested by the children. One of my favourites has a Lego theme, but the imagination of the children in creating their class charters is fantastic!
I have made up a slideshow of the charters in the classes.
UNCRC/RRSA
Article 12 – Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.
Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.