ABOUT 300 school pupils and staff joined together at Ross High School in Tranent to showcase their work on children’s rights and what mattered to them.

Schools from across the county brought pupils to last month’s event, which saw pupils give presentations on some of their work regarding their rights as pupils.

A special screening of a film sharing young LGBTQI+ pupils’ experiences was shown, while there were a number of musical performances.

The event was led by pupils but featured presentations from organisations including Unicef UK, LGBT Youth Scotland and East Lothian library services.

East Lothian Courier: Children from Longniddry Primary School shared their rights respecting successes Children from Longniddry Primary School shared their rights respecting successes

Abby Ingham, education support officer, who organised the event, said: “It was wonderful to see young people from all over East Lothian join together to celebrate the work they’ve been doing on children’s rights through Unicef’s Rights Respecting Schools Award.

“Ross High’s assembly hall was packed full as children and young people took to the stage to speak about their rights. Afterwards, the social area was buzzing as children and adults moved around the stalls led by schools and organisations who work in East Lothian.”

Paul Reynolds, Ross High School headteacher, added: “All at Ross High were honoured to hold such an important event in the school. It was fantastic to see both our main hall and social space filled with children, young people and adults, all passionate about the rights and voices of all young people.”

East Lothian Courier: Ross High School Head Pupils Ben Kean (left) and Bobby Duncan (right) were excellent presenters for the East Lothian-wide event Ross High School Head Pupils Ben Kean (left) and Bobby Duncan (right) were excellent presenters for the East Lothian-wide event

Laura Martin, deputy headteacher at Preston Lodge High School, said: “We were delighted to be able to celebrate the rights of all children across East Lothian, along with some of our feeder primaries.

“The Ross High senior team were a credit to their school and the confidence, articulation and hard work was evident from all of the young people who took to the stage.”

Jacob Cooper, P7 at Cockenzie Primary School, enjoyed taking part in the event.

He said: “Our school presented about how we learn about our rights in school. We got to show our video about rights, as well as how our group makes an impact in our school.

“I was really happy that so many people found our video informative, but also funny. So many people were laughing as they were watching it.

“It was fun to see so many people from different schools talking about children’s rights.”