Celebrating Children Everywhere

Emma Bunton was left feeling inspired after a visit to a Unicef UK Rights Respecting School, where she learnt about the importance of children's rights from pupils at the George Spicer Primary School.

The school is at gold award level of the Unicef Rights Respecting programme, which educates children on their rights as part of the United Nations Convention and upholds their rights in school.  

The Rights Respecting programme is just one of the education programmes that players of People's Postcode Lottery have supported for Unicef UK. Our players have raised over £6.8 Million for the charity. As well as providing quality education for children in the UK, this funding also helps the charity deal with emergencies around the world.

Rights Of Children

World Children's Day celebrates the power of children to change the world. This year's World Children's Day was extra special. It marked the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

During her visit, Emma was given a tour of the school by three Rights Respecting representatives who shared some of the ways they learn about their rights and ensure they are upheld throughout the school. This included a map which promotes respect for all, regardless of where they or their family are from. This links to Article 2 of the convention, 'non-discrimination', which states that the convention applies to every child, "whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status, whatever they think or say, whatever their family background."

Emma then joined the children in some fun activities which further explored the theme of rights, including a game exploring self-worth and a guessing game looking at some of the individual rights such as the right to play and the right to freedom of expression.

Emma said, "It's been amazing to spend time with the children and to see how engaged and passionate they are learning about their rights - from the right to play to the right to have healthy food. It's something all children deserve and it's so important that we as parents, caregivers and teachers encourage and support these fundamental rights."

Sanjay Singh, Senior Programmes Manager at People's Postcode Lottery, said, "At People's Postcode Lottery we are proud to be supporting Unicef. Over the past two years our players have raised more than £6.8 Million, which has helped to provide quality education for children in emergencies around the world, as well as here in the UK."

Frances Bestley, Programme Director for Rights Respecting Schools at Unicef UK, said, "We would like to thank the players of the People's Postcode Lottery for their support, which helps us to work with schools across the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. Our Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens."

Deserving Causes

If the work undertaken by Unicef UK inspires you, then why not check out more of the amazing charities and good causes supported by our players?