In May of this year, St Monica’s Primary School in Glasgow welcomed Unicef UK for its Rights Respecting Schools Level 2 Assessment. One thing in particular that caught the assessor’s attention was the way that the school had incorporated the use of the Child Rights Launchpad resource, adapting its use to suit pupils at different stages. Like all schools, St Monica’s is working hard to enable all children to develop a strong sense of their place in the world and to increase their awareness and understanding of concepts such as dignity, self - worth and respect for others. Human rights and the rights of the child are, of course at the centre of this learning and this is where the Child Rights Launchpad comes in.
Child Rights Launchpad takes children and young people in Scotland on an exciting journey to explore their rights.
Getting active for rights
Child Rights Launchpad – Unicef UK’s award-winning child rights experience – takes children and young people in Scotland on an exciting journey to explore their rights. Through the interactive website, children and young people aged three to 18 learn about their rights and the rights of their peers around the world and are encouraged to get active about rights. Mary Jack, Principal Teacher at St. Monica’s is clear that this has happened in her school:
“We find that the children are thinking more of what can they do to help children…we have children who come up and say, on their own, can we run a bake sale at lunchtimes? They’re thinking more as active global citizens.”
In the lower primary, children, including Mary’s own class, have been using Launchpad as whole class groups, whilst older pupils have individual accounts which they use in class and as part of homework activities. Child Rights Launchpad is used across the school, but its flexibility means that it’s used in many different ways. St Monica’s isn’t alone: teachers in nearly one third of Scotland’s schools have created their free Launchpad accounts and the thousands of children and young people they work with are already enjoying using the resource. “They love it”, says Mrs Jack, “We’ve had quite a few of the parents commenting on it and saying it’s really good, too!”
Gaming for learning
Launchpad has lots of fun gaming features to keep children and young people engaged. The first stage of creating a child’s account is to design an ‘alien’ character who then goes on missions to explore different planets, each one of which is aligned to an Article of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. With images, videos and interactive quizzes to make the content come alive, as well as offline activities and reflection time, there’s plenty to keep young minds interested. As children progress through the resource, they receive ‘rewards’ for their character and personalised certificates.
Using Child Rights Launchpad has had a really positive impact in St Monica’s Primary and your school could benefit, too. Teachers can sign up for their own free Child Rights Launchpad account at http://launchpad.unicef.org.uk
