Roald Dahl’s Matilda is a book loved by millions, and has been ranked number 30 among all time children’s novels by the School Library Journal! Have you read it? If you haven’t, you may have watched the movie or musical version. Any version is worth the time.
It is a book about a sweet, smart little girl who isn’t treated too well by her family. When she begins school, she meets an amazing teacher, Miss Honey, who shows her how an adult should be treating her. Her time spent with Miss Honey is filled with fun and learning, but this cannot be said about all her time in school. This is because of the wicked head teacher Miss Trunchbull. In order to have a happy ending, Matilda must work her way through school and around Miss Trunchbull’s horrible methods of teaching.
As well as being a good story to read, Dahl’s book gives an insight into the issues surrounding going to school and offers the opportunity for these issues to be discussed in a way that can teach you about your rights as a child. These rights apply to anyone under the age of 18 as is stated in Article 18 of The United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Attending school
The UNCRC gives you rights in order for you to grow up happy, healthy and safe. And Wales became the first country in the UK to include these rights in their laws in 2011.
You have the right to learn and to go to school, this is because of Articles 28 and 29 of the UNCRC. Wherever you live in Wales, you can go to school between the ages of 5 and 16. Your parents have to decide which school you should go to. As you get older, you might have an opinion about which school you should go to, so you can talk to your parents or the people responsible for making these sorts of decisions, about what you want. (https:// childrenslegalcentre.wales/how-the-law-affects-me/at-school/going-to-school/)
As we can see from the book, Matilda wasn’t able to join school on time as her parents “who weren’t very concerned one way or another about their daughter’s education, had forgotten to make the proper arrangements”. Some people may think: ‘No school? Bonus!!’, but in reality attending school is a vital part of life. It gives you a chance to learn and improve yourself. It also gives you the time to meet people and make friends. By not being able to attend school, and therefore not being able to learn or meet friends, this could have a negative effect on people.
Mental health is an issue that is very important, and it should be talked about even at a young age. You can talk to whoever you feel most comfortable around, this could be a friend, your mum or dad, other family members or even teachers. If you weren’t able to attend school, you may feel sad that you are missing out on the chance to learn and have fun with other people your age, like Matilda did. It may also mean that you are anxious when you join, if you did not join at the same time as other children. These feelings are okay and if you speak to someone about them, they will start to feel better.
Although Matilda went out of her way to find ways to learn by going to the library, she shouldn’t have had to do this by herself! Mr and Mrs Bogtrotter (her mum and dad), should have registered Matilda so that she could begin school on time, and so should your parents.
How you should be treated in school
As we can see from Matilda, her school uses horrible ways of disciplining the children. This includes being forced to eat all of a giant cake (a little bit may be nice, but the whole thing?? No thanks!), swinging little girls around by their plaits, or worst of all: locking them in ‘The Chokey’, a small cupboard with broken glass stuck into the walls – sounds scary doesn’t it? These methods are not okay, and they violate Article 19, which says that you must not be harmed. You should be looked after and kept safe. You being harmed is never acceptable or justified.
Any person or child who is forced into these horrible punishments would almost definitely be affected. It may lead to anxiety or nerves when they have to go back to the place it happened. They may feel scared of the person that did it to them, and they may get scared of doing similar things if it reminds them of it.
You don’t need to worry about these methods of discipline, as your school will not be using them. But, they can do something if you don’t behave correctly.
Article 28 of the UNCRC says that any discipline that happens at school must respect your ‘human dignity’. This means that you shouldn’t feel bullied or humiliated by teachers.
Your teachers must act reasonably. This means if you’ve done something silly you should only get a small punishment. If you have done something more serious or you keep breaking rules, the consequences might be more serious. The teacher should also think about any reasons why you might have behaved in the way you have done, including your age, and whether you are living with a disability or have other needs.
Every school will have a different approach to what happens when someone breaks the rules or behaviour policy. Many schools have a ‘warning’ system so you will know if your behaviour is likely to get you into trouble if you carry on. For more serious problems (like if you hurt someone or damage property) there may be consequences straight away. Your school can decide on what will happen to pupils who don’t follow the school rules, as long as they do this properly. (https:// childrenslegalcentre.wales/how-the-law-affects-me/at-school/in-trouble-at-school/)
Also, you should know that physical punishment is not okay too. There is no law that says that it is generally OK for parents to smack or hit their children. What the law does say is that it is generally wrong for someone to hit – or ‘assault’ – another person. As Wales is devolved, they have decided to introduce a new law – smacking is going to be banned in Wales from 2022. (https://childrenslegalcentre.wales/smacking-in-wales-why-will-the-law-soon-be-different-to- england/)
About me
Hi! I’m Meg McKeand, I am 20 years old and I go to Swansea University. I am studying law as I want to become a Barrister. I find learning about the law and rights incredibly interesting, hopefully you do too! In my spare time, I love reading and watching movies. I am also in the netball society so I have fun going to training with my friends.