Stewarton Academy achieves double gold!

Councillor Elaine Cowan, Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People, dropped in to Stewarton Academy with local members Councillors John McGhee, Ellen Freel and Stephen Canning to congratulate Headteacher John Stuart, his team and young people from the school on their achievement.

They learned more about the prestigious Gold: RRSA, from Shelley Hastings PT Social Subjects and Citizenship, Gillian Dunsmuir, Teacher of Social Subjects and RMPS and the pupil led committee.

The school had to be assessed by a Professional Adviser from UNICEF and demonstrate that children’s rights were fully embedded throughout the school in its policies, practice and ethos. The young people and teaching staff had also to demonstrate that they had a thorough understanding of child rights, that the RRSA had a positive impact on their learning and wellbeing, and that the young people identify as rights respecting global citizens and are advocates for social justice, fairness and children’s rights.

Martha from S6 spoke to the visitors about the school’s Rights Respecting journey. She said: “My rights respecting journey began in S2 so I’ve been on the whole journey to earning Gold. I have thoroughly enjoyed every part of the rights respecting schools process but a real highlight has been mentoring young people within the school, and presenting at assemblies and at parents' night. It’s helped to develop leadership skills and improve our confidence, and also made us feel like we are part of something bigger.”

For the Gold: Reading Schools accreditation, the project was led by teacher, Pamela Jannaway, and the school had to demonstrate a love of reading for pleasure, its benefits and the how they have created a reading community. Stewarton Academy has excelled in this field over the last three years with pupils, staff, parents and carers, and the wider community participating. Highlights include World Book Day celebrations, Reading Challenge achievements, Secret Santa's Bookshelf, book groups, author events and even podcasts.

Young people from the school have also been paired readers throughout the academic year, reading with children and young people from the cluster primary schools and early childhood centres, plus S1 and S2 pupils from the school.

Charlotte, who has been a paired reader said: “For the past eight months we have been volunteering as paired readers once a week. It has been a really rewarding experience, we have all loved working with the children from the local early childhood centres and primary schools. It doesn’t matter if you are a keen reader, it has all been about encouraging everyone to enjoy reading for pleasure. And it’s worked!”

Councillor Elaine Cowan, Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People, was joined at Stewarton Academy by local members Councillors John McGhee, Ellen Freel and Stephen Canning. She said: “I was delighted to visit Stewarton Academy with the local elected members to congratulate Headteacher, John Stuart, his team and the young people from the school on their double gold.

“Both awards are incredibly prestigious. The UNICEF UK Gold: Rights Respecting Schools Award has four key areas of impact on young people – wellbeing, participation, relationships and self-esteem. The aim of the journey to the Gold Award is to ensure that the young people are healthier and happier, that they feel safe, that they have better relationships and that they are active and involved in school life and the wider world.

“While Reading Schools is an accreditation programme for schools that are committed to building a culture of reading for their learners and communities. Research demonstrates that reading for pleasure has positive impacts on learners' attainment across the curriculum, supporting wellbeing, critical thinking, creativity, empathy and resilience. Speaking to the young people at the school was a wonderful insight into how the school achieved this accolade and the positive impact that reading has had on the young people and the whole school community.”

Headteacher John Stuart said: “I am very proud of all our pupils, staff, families and wider community for all playing their part in achieving both Gold awards. The awards are very prestigious and are hard to achieve. Stewarton Academy is lucky to have great teachers who are committed to ensuring that our children and young people have the best opportunities available to them through the curriculum and through projects like Rights Respecting Schools and Reading Schools.

“Working towards Gold was very much a team effort and everyone within the school embraced our shared goals. Whilst achieving Gold in both elements is welcome as awards for the school, the most important thing is how working towards them improved the ethos of our school and provided such wonderful leadership opportunities for our young people.”