Children’s commissioner to visit Hallside Primary

Oct 6 2010 by Carla Callaghan, Rutherglen Reformer

A CAMBUSLANG primary school are looking forward to meeting the Children’s Commissioner.

Children from Hallside Primary will be meeting Sarah-Louise Davies, Participations Development Officer today (Wednesday).

The visit comes as part of ‘A Right Blether’, the national consultation with children and young people, which will visit more than 50 schools, youth centres and care units across Scotland.

The national consultation aims to capture and use the views, ideas and advice offered by children and young people to inform a national vote in November 2010 to mark the 21st anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It is hoped that tens of thousands of children and young people take part.

The results of the vote will identify issues that the Commissioner’s office will integrate into a four-year work plan.

Throughout the visit, children will be encouraged to send in their ideas and thoughts about things that make their life good – these could be people, projects and services.

The Commissioner’s Office will showcase these submissions online at www.arightblether.co.uk, on www.youtube.com/user/RightsSCCYP and in exhibitions.

The information captured during the Commissioner’s visit to Hallside Primary School will also be showcased at a major event planned for February 2011, to explore the results of the vote in November and agree the priorities for the Commissioner’s work plan.

Tam Baillie, Scotland’s commissioner for children and young people, said: “I believe we need to get better at listening and acting on the views, opinions and experiences of children and young people.

“I want to listen and learn from children and young people so that in my role, I can fulfil my obligation to make Scotland a country where they can understand, exercise and experience their rights every single day of their lives. Their expertise and their ideas for the future will influence and help to shape my work for the next four years.

“This, in turn, will ensure that Scotland is a country that’s respected on the world stage, as a place where children and young people are held in the highest regard, through an approach built on the cornerstones of wisdom, virtue, compassion and integrity.”