Torry Academy pupils from the Global Group decided to investigate how the Fairtrade Fortnight ‘Big Swap’ campaign was affecting their school. They conducted an email survey of their teachers asking:
· Have you swapped any of your groceries to fair trade goods over the last year?
· If not, would you consider it and what would you swap?
· If not, why not?
The Global Group compiled their results into pie charts and illustrated their poster with photos of their teachers posing with their favourite Fairtrade product.
Newhills Primary School had a Fairtrade Coffee Morning for the local community. They advertised by making posters and leaflets and putting them in the local shops and library and the local church. They sold Fairtrade teas and coffees and biscuits and ran a Fairtrade stall selling £140 worth of goods. They also had home baking made with Fairtrade ingredients for sale.
The Fairtrade group sent every family in the school a letter, asking them to think about swapping to Fairtrade tea during Fairtrade Fortnight. They put a Fairtrade teabag, which was kindly donated by the local Co-op shop, in with each letter so that people could try it. Last year, the group held a banana eating event when everyone in the whole school ate a Fairtrade banana.
Primary 7 ran a competition to design T-shirts with a Fairtrade logo. The winning designs were printed onto Fairtrade cotton T-shirts and were part of a fashion show planned and run by the Primary 7’s.
At the school Christmas Fair, the group run a stall of Fairtrade goods. They sell cards, foodstuffs, Christmas decorations and jewellery and gifts.
Aberdeen Grammar School ran two stalls at school during Fairtrade Fortnight. The Fair Trade Group wrapped over 500 gift bags to sell whilst other members of the steering group constructed competition boards with prizes kindly donated by Starbucks and Coop.
An ‘Ubuntu’ challenge was also set up, where students of AGS voted Ubuntu, the first Fairtrade cola, the best on the market. A stall was set up in the staff room, selling a range of FT products, from Dubble Bars to fruit packs. Needless to say, the chocolate sold the most!
Fairtrade themed lessons were planned and carried out, including a range of delicious homebakes from the HE dept.
A Fairtrade fashion show was held in the main hall using clothes kindly donated by John Lewis and modelled by 6th year pupils. A Fairtrade steering group was officially formed, comprising 8 pupils and 2 teachers. The school PTA were persuaded to swap their tea and coffee to Fairtrade. The audience at the school musical ‘Grease’ happily munched on Fairtrade snacks on the evening of the show.
The Fairtrade group ran a stall at the Ladies’ Night selling Fairtrade produce and convincing people to make the swap to FT. The ‘Sweet Injustice’ game was played at S1 assembly. Find the game at http://peopleandplanet.org/fairtrade/guide.php/choc
The group held a ‘Banana Bonanza’ stall selling Fairtrade bananas to staff and pupils. In Fairtrade fortnight, Fairtrade stalls were held for both pupils and staff.
A Fairtrade Fayre has been organised to celebrate the end of Fairtrade Fortnight. Stalls include Body Shop, Starbucks, Fairtrade Aberdeen, raffles, banana and spoon race, pie the teacher, FT homebakes and FT teas and coffees provided by the PTA. See the newspaper photo and story at http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1629849
Dyce Academy Fair Traders ran a Fairtrade stall every Friday at break, selling fruit, biscuits, chocolate bars, cereal bars and other snacks. They subsidised the fruit by putting up the cost of chocolate, which was the best selling item. They bought new Fairtrade footballs for the PE dept with the profits from the Fairtrade stall. Unfortunately, due to healthy eating guidelines from the Scottish Government, the group are no longer allowed to run the stall, they are still promoting fair trade by introducing Fairtrade products in our HE dept, and they encourage the teachers to drink Fairtrade coffee in the staffroom.
The pupils were so concerned that they could no longer hold their Fairtrade stall that they organised a petition that was taken to the Scottish Parliament. A group from school was invited to Edinburgh to make their case. The committee was televised so that their friends in school could follow the debate. As a result of their action, they discovered that they can hold Fairtrade stalls for special events and run the Fairtrade stall, albeit less frequently.
The Fair Trade group were invited to help in the community, at the Udny Green Fairtrade festival.
Their plans for the future are
· to get more teachers teaching about fair trade. They have already got ideas involving the Maths and HE departments.
· to keep asking the PE dept to buy more Fairtrade footballs.
· to plan another FT jewellery evening in the summer.