Pupils from St Day and Carharrack Primary School were among 11 schools invited to Cornwall’s first Children’s Rights Celebration Day, using the platform to challenge the newly introduced recycling costs for schools.
Seven students from the Silver UNICEF Rights Respecting School joined 100 young people at the Article 12 Celebration Day at New County Hall on 27th June. The event honoured Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.
In 2024, every pupil at St Day and Carharrack wrote a letter to Cornwall’s councillors urging them to take action to reverse the national policy that now sees schools paying over £10,000 annually for recycling collections. With all letters unanswered, pupils took the offer of a presentation at the Article 12 event as the perfect opportunity to hold Councillors to account.
Koben, a Year One pupil, told councillors: “We wrote to you and you didn’t reply. This is not good enough.”
Darcy, also in Year One, read out one of the 100 letters sent to the Prime Minister earlier this year, calling for recycling to be incentivised rather than charged. The school received an official response from Downing Street last month.
Following the children’s presentation, Kate Evan-Hughes, Strategic Director for Together for Families, publicly apologised, acknowledging that the children’s voices had not been listened to and confirming that “this is not OK.”
Viv Horne, Reception Teacher and Rights Respecting School Lead at St Day and Carharrack, said: “Our children spoke with confidence and maturity, and their passion was clear. This has grown beyond the injustice of paying to recycle. As a Rights Respecting School, the UN Rights of the Child are central to everything we do, and it was powerful for the children to see Article 12 in action.”
Following the presentation, Redruth Councillor Barbara Ellenbroek approached St Day and Carharrack pupils in the foyer to congratulate them, expressing her regret that their letters had not received a response and affirming the importance of their voices.
St Day and Carharrack pupils plan to continue their campaign to remove schools from the ‘business’ category for recycling collection fees, believing that the funds could be better invested in education.
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