Fairtrade

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Fairtrade Fortnight 2017

This year we handed over to the older children in the school for Fairtrade Fortnight. A group of year 2 children prepared and led a collective worship telling the rest of the school about Pablo the Super Banana and the importance of Fairtrade.

   

 

We are a Fair Achiever School! fairtrade-002-549x800

We were awarded the Fair Achiever Certificate on 9th September 2016.  The children who worked particularly hard towards this goal were awarded with a Head Teacher’s Certificate in our celebration assembly

Looking to our neighbours overseas is very important at St Michael’s.  As you may know the children have already learnt all about the school in Pongro village, Cambodia.  We also look wider now with Fairtrade.  We have set up a Fairtrade Steering Group with two children from each class looking at ways the school can encourage people to buy Fairtrade and ways to teach stars-of-the-week-002-800x545the children the importance of trading fairly.  All children learn the importance of Fairtrade within their humanities lessons and understand that farmers all over the world deserve a fair price for their work.

 

 

Summer 2016

The fairtrade steering group decided to try and persuade our school kitchen and all school staff to use more fairtrade products.  They wrote a letter to Norse, our caterers, and all the school staff asking them to use fairtrade products whenever possible. It seems to be working!

During the school summer fair we sold traidcraft and fairtrade products to raise awareness of the benefits of fairtrade-1fairtrade. The children had designed fairtrade posters which were displayed as a back drop to the stall. Year 1 and year 2 children helped to set up the stall and sell the goods. They were able to explain the benefits of fairtrade to visitors at the fair. All the money raised went to traidcraft.  The rain on the day may have reduced the numbers attending however those that did were interested in what the children had to say. Quite a few products were sold with Guatemalan honey proving very popular!

Fairtrade Water Obstacle Course
To raise awareness of the benefits of fairtrade premium the fair trade committee put together a game for the fairtrade-2school summer fair. The idea was to carry water in a cup over an obstacle course to highlight how difficult it is for many children to get clean water to drink. We talked about how many children had to walk miles for clean water or make do with dirty water. The children recognised that although the obstacle course was not nearly as hard as the obstacles many children faced it was still a good way to get the message across.

To decide on the obstacle course design a group of children were given different obstacles during and asked to put them together to make an obstacle course. The course they decided upon was a tunnel followed by a hurdle, then stepping in 4 hoops and walking along a balance bar and finally under a hurdle. They tested the obstacle course with cups of water and adjusted it for age groups 3 to 10.


At the start of the summer fair some of the year 2 children helped to set up with course and bring the giant bucket of water outside. We explained to children wishing to take part that they needed to get to the end of the course with some water still left in their cup. If they did this they received either a fairtrade sticker or a fairtrade sweet. This was a very popular activity with some children trying numerous times. As they took part they were asked to think about how tricky it is for some children to get clean water and we were able to explain to parents how fairtrade premium enabled clean water to be accessed.

 

 

Fairtrade Fortnight 2015

Throughout fairtrade fortnight the fairtrade committee have been putting together an assembly to explain that buying fairtrade sugar can help people in Malawi get clean water to drink.  The children learnt their lines and actions and stood proudly in front of the rest of the school and some parents to teach this important lesson.  We even had a large crocodile to help put the message across!

As of 4th August 2014 we have been awarded FairActive status!

FairActive-School

To achieve Fair Active status the children have been learning more about Fairtrade and helping to promote it’s values to friends and families. We had a visit from Mrs Sue Windross, a representative from Traidcraft.  She spoke to the children during assembly.  She used situations that the children would understand to put across the meaning of fair and unfair.  For example, Sue talked about how our brothers and sisters sometimes are given things we are not and this seems unfair.  All the children listened intently and were keen to join in, asking questions and giving answers to questions about Fairtrade.  The 8 children from the Fairtrade Committee said a prayer for Fairtrade at the end of the assembly.

During the Grand Summer Fair, Mrs Windross came back to school to set up a Traidcraft stall.  She sold lots of lovely Traidcraft products along with cakes and biscuits made by parents and friends of the school out of Fairtrade ingredients. A child from the St Michael’s Fairtrade Committee helped on the stall

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We officially became a FairAware School on Monday 16th June!

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The P1000643 (611x800)children found out how they can help farmers on the other side of the world. In Fairtrade Fortnight this year we focussed on bananas!

Fairtrade bananas

The children from the steering group along with some friends presented a fantastic collective worship all about Foncho the Farmer and the benefits of buying Fairtrade bananas.  The children performed a small play explaining all the people involved in bringing bananas to the shops from the farms in Columbia.  They explained how buying Fairtrade products also gives communities a Fairtrade premium which can help provide them with water pipes and fertilisers aswell as being able to send their children to school.

 

 

The school has adopted a Fairtrade policy and is looking to bring Fairtrade  into the classrooms when learning about literacy and humanities.

The children will look out for Fairtrade products when out and about.