Fairtrade

Fairtrade

St George's is proud to be a Fairtrade school. Being a Fairtrade School means we have joined a worldwide movement – a movement where our young people learn that, whatever their age, they have the power to make a difference in the world. It offers a great opportunity to look at global issues such as where our food comes from and how we are connected to people around the world.

Fairtrade Stall March 2024

Ethos group are becoming more experienced and made sure all the classes knew about the stall on 21st March at break and after school. We sold £94 worth of stock which was excellent. The Childrens' Nutrition Team are recognising that this stall is now less frequent and alongside some changes to our school dinner menu and some exercise at Breakfast Club are now willing to give us the Gold Healthy Schools Award.

 

Mrs McKeown has joined the Greater Manchester Fairtrade Network and has been part of organising this special day. If you fancy a day out, come along and join the fun!

 

Ethos group worked hard helping cut out some of the craft for the day. They were rewarded by choosing a Divine bar bought by Mrs McKeown to say thank you for the help.

 

2024 marks 30 years of Fairtrade. We are talking as a group and deciding how to engage with some of these ideas and come up with some of our own! Ethos group and anyone from school are taking up the challenge from Glossopdale Fairtraders to design a 30th birthday card as part of a competition. The  cards will be judged on 11 March 2024.

Ethos group worked hard to draft and design some entries for this competition. They had to research Fairtrade and think about who the card was from eg, a shopper, trader, Fairtrade farmer or community impacted by the Fairtrade premium. 2 of our group won and they received a Fairtrade goodie bag with stickers and chocolate treats. We were also given a Fairtrade book to put in our library so more people can learn about Fairtrade. We gave some Lidl Easter eggs to the runners up in school as every entry was excellent!

FAIRTRADE WRAPPERS BOARD completed Feb 2024

After starting to collect wrappers in February 2023 at the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, we have now covered the board. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. We've a whole variety of chocolate, but there's also space for teas, coffees, sugars, bananas, flowers, nuts, juice and wine. Such a fantastic choice of fairly traded products for us to buy.  We have the opportunity to change people's lives by how we shop and buying Fairtrade makes such a difference.

 

                                                                                                                                      October 2023 - School is back and Fairtrade remains a huge part of our vision for a fairer world.

We now have new members in Ethos group with keen students from year 4, 5 and 6. They were excited to be part of our stall this half term and helped advertise the stall and learned to sell and manage the money.

We made over £80 and the small non food items sold really well. These were bought in Justicia- a Fairtrade shop in Bolton. which we'll use again. Mrs McKeown is making links with other traders by being part of the Greater Manchester Fairtrade group.

We have heard about a Fairtrade Event in November run by Stockport Fairtraders and there is a schools conference in Hudderfield in March led by Fair and Funky plus another Fairtrade event in Rochdale next year.

 

Ethos group

We had our final meeting on Thursday 20th July 2023 and had a fire using Fairtrade Charcoal from the Co op in the Spiritual Garden. We toasted bread and crumpets and spread them with Fairtrade jam. We enjoyed juice and biscuits and said goodbye to our Year 6 members who have been faithful and enthusiastic members whilst they've been at St George's. We hope they may go on to promote Fairtrade in their High Schools.

We then had a stall after the Year 6 performance on the same evening and sold lots of Fairtrade treats to parents and friends who'd come to watch " Let Loose." We sold around £100 of treats so will need to restock over the summer.

 

Fairtrade Stall July 2023

Ethos group are honing their skills in running the stall and this half term our advertising was much better!

We had a lot of customers at break and again after school. We discussed other ideas and felt it would be nice to have a stall after the Y6 evening production on Thursday 20th July.

 

 

Great Big Green Week 2023

A fantastic week of good weather meant we were able to litter pick in the school grounds and at Millenium Green Park near school as part of our After School Clubs as planned.

Around 60 children and adults met on Saturday 17th June outside school to walk to Hyde Park together. Despite the grey skies and odd bit of drizzle everyone was excited to be together. We shared food and fun on the park. It was a celebration of being together but also enjoying our green spaces and keeping them nice for everyone to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairtrade Schools newsletters keep us updated on what is happening with Fairtrade nationally. Fairtrade's concerns about the environment and the impact on farmers has encouraged us to partner with the Climate Coalition and get involved with the Great Big Green Week. This is a week long celebration of action to tackle climate change and protect nature from 10th - 18th June. As a result, Gardening Club and Ethos group have done litter picks in the school grounds and Millenium Green Park and the school is having a walk and picnic in Hyde Park on Saturday 17th June. We are meeting at the school gates at 10.30am and will all walk together. Everyone is welcome.

  Wealthy governments and businesses need to take bold action to deliver Climate Justice. But we don't need to wait for them to act. Choosing Fairtrade whenever you can is one way you can take on climate change every day. When you choose Fairtrade, you are choosing to support a fairer deal for farmers and workers in the countries most affected by climate change. The extra income, extra support from the Fairtrade Producer Networks and extra powers Fairtrade can offer is often critical in whole communities' ability to recover from climate disasters and build sustainable futures.

New Products May 2023

As our display board continues to grow we have learned that the COOP are now selling Fairtrade tomatoes and Primark are stocking beauty products using Fairtrade olive oil and shea butter. Please keep the wrappers coming in, the board is looking great. We definitely eat a lot of chocolate! Transform Trade have taken over from Traidcraft who have ceased trading so we should still be able to stock our stalls which are held at the end of each half term.

 

 

Fairtrade Fornight 2023

Our display board is filling up very nicely with fairtrade wrappers and packets! It's wonderful to see the variety of things we eat and enjoy which are Fairtrade!

Thank you to everyone who has bought Fairtrade and sent things in. Please keep sending things in until the board is full.

 

 

The last day in school of Fairtrade Fortnight brought a treat of Fairtrade chocolate and banana milkshakes. We used Fairtrade drinnking chocolate and cocoa and Fairtrade bananas in the shakes. We bought Fairtrade apple and orange juice from Greggs for those who couldn't have dairy. Some of Ethos group helped to make and serve them. It was great fun! Everyone enjoyed them from Nursery up to Year 6!

         

Ethos held another stall in the second week of Fairtrade Fortnight and sold over £100 worth of chocolate and other goods. Some of these things had been sourced in the Fairtrade shop in the Wesley Methodist Centre in Chester but it was well supported at breaktime and then after school. Janet the Community Champion from Asda came to talk to us and was impressed with our shop!

We've done a lot of learning through school and it's been great to see what each class has done.Year 5 have done some great research into the Fairtrade premium and understand this extra that Fairtrade give to communities.

 

                                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classes have been learning about Fairtrade and have been busy running laps of the playground as part of the collective marathon. Fairtrade wappers have been coming in so thank you all for the Fairtrade products you are buying and sending the wrappers into school.

Ethos group took part in a Fairtrade Get Together on Zoom on Friday 3rd March with over 81 other schools taking part which was exciting. The theme was about how our favourite foods are under threat from climate change and how Fairtrade is helping farmers learn how to cope with these changes.

We are delighted that Asda have put up a display in store alongside Fairtrade goods. We are welcoming Janet the Community Champion into school this week to chat after our Fairtrade stall on Thursday 9th.

We'll end the week with Fairtrade milkshakes - chocolate or banana with a non dairy alternative for those who need it.

 

Ethos group have been working hard planning for the fortnight. We are doing a collective marathon where everyone will run part of the 390 laps of the playground to make up the 26 miles of a marathon! We're going to be doing this as a sponsored event over the next two weeks and build up the amount. of laps run, then celebrate with Fairtrade banana milkshakes when we finally complete it!!

We are also trying to encourage our families and friends to buy more Fairtrade and every wrapper we bring in will go on the notice board as part of our big display.

We thought that if the supermarkets promoted Fairtrade products more then perhaps more people might buy them so we've written to Asda, Lidl, Morrisons and Aldi and hand delivered the letters.

Asda are keen to work with us so please look out for a Fairtrade table and our display board.

 

FAIRTRADE AWARD FAIRACHIEVER 2022-2025!

 

We are absolutely delighted to receive the highest school award again for the way St George's promotes and learns about Fairtrade. The following comments were from the team who look at the evidence we submitted. Thank you to everyone for making this possible!

What a brilliant application- a joy to read through and assess! Congratulations on all that your pupils and staff have achieved so far and please do continue to keep up the wonderful work within St Georges C.E. Primary School. We especially enjoyed reading about the HUGE variety of Fairtrade activities that you've organised both in and out of the classroom throughout a very difficult couple of years within the education sector. Well done to all involved and to your Ethos Group for keeping you on track throughout.

 

 

 

 

Fairtrade Fortnight 2022

 

Fairtrade Fortnight officially ends on the 6th March but since we only returned to school on 28th February after half term, we have decided to extend our celebrations to have our own fortnight.

Nursery started the week with learning about Pablo the banana and then enjoyed Fairtrade bananas on pancakes with Fairtrade sugar for Shrove Tuesday ( pancake day.)

We had a very exciting day on Wednesday when Ethos group led collective worship and shared about the journey of chocolate through a drama showing the supply chain and had a quiz where we guessed what different products were.

We enjoyed Fairtrade hot chocolates as part of World Book Day and each class enjoyed a story dressed in our pyjamas. We were given by Sara Parker some beautiful handmade bookmarks to share with Key Stage 2. These are made by a women's group in Bangladesh and are fairly traded.

Year 3 have been learning about Fairtrade products and the Fairtrade premium which changes lives and communities.

Reception have enjoyed Fairtrade banana smoothies and learning about Pablo the banana the Fairtrade logo and cotton. Year 4 have designed posters and Year 6 have created fact files about Fairtrade. Year 5 will link their learning about the Victorians and the mills to Fairtrade cotton in the coming weeks.

 

 

We finished our Fairtrade Fortnight on the 10th March with a cake and coffee afternoon. It was a real joy to welcome parents back into school to sample Fairtrade teas and coffee and enjoy the Fairtrade baking each class had done. It was a wonderful afternoon and Year 6 Ethos group gave a presentation about Fairtrade to everyone who came. We were very pleased to welcome our community Co op Champions to the event and we shared how generous they have been in supplying everyting we've needed to do the baking. Not just the Fairtrade chocolate and sugars but also the eggs, butter and flour. The ladies from the Wake Up Wednesday group did a fabulous job serving the refreshments and the children from Ethos came and helped on the Fairtrade stall after school for anyone who was still around. We sold a lot of our stock and we were very pleased at how school have supported everything this Fairtrade Fortnight. Thank you everyone.

 

We are excited to be launching the option to buy Fairtrade School Uniform in March 2022.

This is linking with KoolSkools who we have bought our Leavers' hoodies from last year and hopefully will do again this year. We have been talking to Andy Ashcroft from KoolSkools who came to share with us in December and we now have St George's uniform on their buying page. We will be learning about Fairtrade cotton during the fortnight and ETHOS group have been planning activities for the school to get involved in. We are hoping to link up with celebrating  World Book Day on 3rd March for some fun! We have invited a speaker to come and talk about her links with a Fairtrade producer group in Nepal and she has puppets made from there and some stories to share with Key Stage 1.

 

Fairtrade Advent Challenge 2021

School decided to do something different this year  as part of our Advent Challenge to think about courageous advocacy. We have previously focused on supporting our Foodbank but this is part of what we do all the time now. We decided to have a different challenge for the whole school each week of Advent. We challenged the school to look out for the Fairtrade logo in the shops and buy Fairtrade goods. Another challenge was to bring in items to help with the Afghan Appeal.

 

KoolSkools Fairtrade Cotton December 2021

We had a visitor on Thursday from Andy who runs KoolSkools, a Fairtrade uniform company based in Southampton. He spoke to KS2 about Fairtrade cotton and encouraged us all to think about the process involved in making our clothes and what the lives of cotton farmers are like.We reflected on the amount of money the farmers and factory workers must get when we buy items that are really cheap. School have used this company when parents buy the hoodies for Year 6 as they get ready to leave.

As a Fairtrade school it is great we have the opportunity to learn more about how Fairtrade works.

ADVENT SUNDAY 28.11.2021

ETHOS group were invited to Central Methodist church in Hyde to led worship around the work we have been doing to raise awareness of our need to protect the planet and being Agents of Change. The church has been looking at becoming an ECO church and were interested in our work. Six of our Year 6 ETHOS group led beautifully as they shared about the work around our leaves and promises to the planet, our work with the Foodbank and Fairtrade and sang their Legacy song. The congregation were moved by their readings and prayers and their drama about the Good Samaritan. After the service, ETHOS group had a FAIRTRADE stall which made over £70. The congregation also donated the money raised by the monring's takings for tea and coffee after the service which was very kind and we were made very welcome. We shared the Kingdom Coffee brochure with the kitchen staff at the church in case they would consider switching to Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar. It was a wonderful morning

 

#BeFairCOP26 

The whole school joined with ETHOs group in writing their pledges on leaves around their promises to the planet and the hopes they have for the politicians meeting in November in Glasgow. These were gathered together and hung in the Hall as a constant reminder. Classes have also been working on COP26 and Fairtrade as part of their learning.

 

Fairtrade Stall - October 2021

We continue to show our support for Fairtrade by having a stall on the last day before the half term holidays. ETHOS group took orders from each class, bagged them up and then took the orders back to class to enjoy at the end of the day. It was a great success and we sold £160 worth of Fairtrade products!

 

 

HARVEST 2021

We celebrated Harvest outside with parents too and we were so thankful it didn't rain. Our focus was on Climate Change and the COP 26 gathering. We prayed for world leaders and shared our own pledges for the planet and our hopes for what our leaders will do. Our bible reading about Boaz and Ruth reminded us of the need to notice others and be generous. We asked for donations for the Foodbank and that some Fairtrade items might be included and it was wonderful to see how kind everyone has been. 

Final Day of Term

Our final day of term and for the INSET,  staff were treated to a variety of Fairtrade drinks to enjoy.

Ethos Group BBQ

ETHOS group were very excited to have a BBQ as our final meeting for the year in July 2021 and to use Fairtrade charcoal! the CO OP continue to be a great source of Fairtrade products.

Fairtrade Leaver Hoodies

Claire Arnott from the Fairtrade Foundation put St George's in touch with KoolSkools - a Fairtrade supplier of cotton garments.  We were delighted to buy our hoodies for our Leavers in July knowing that for the first time the hoodies  were made using Fairtrade cotton! We hope to welcome Andy from KoolSkools in the Autumn to share a bit more about his business and Fairtrade cotton.

Fairtrade Fortnight

Take a look at our completed board at the end of March 2021 with a selection of baking at home during lockdown, poems, posters, artwork using the symbol in natural materials like Andy Goldsworthy and prayers. It was a fantastic Fairtrade Fortnight and the Fairtrade Foundation picked up on our Twitter feed and asked a member of staff to take part in a webinar to share how St George's supported Fairtrade in lockdown.

Completed Board

 

Prior to Fairtrade Fortnight at the end of February we created a new board to share the theme and to create a backdrop for the work we would do	School had a sample of different Fairtrade drinks to add to the usual Fairtrade teas and coffee in the Staff room during Fairtrade Fortnight.

Lockdown Fairtrade Goodies

Members of ETHOS group who were in school during the lockdown decided we should still try and have a stall and sell our Fairtrade goodies. We used Google classrooms to let everyone know what they could order. These were bagged up and delivered by staff to pupil's homes. We made over £200 and the Fairtrade Foundation were delighted with our creativity! We also managed to lead collective worship via zoom during Fairtrade Fortnight  with ETHOS in school and ETHOS at home sharing how Fairtrade is helping farmers cope with climate change.

 

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FAIRTRADE CHRISTMAS 2019

This year we decided to have a Fairtrade Christmas tree to remind us about Fairtrade

 products we can use and to show other people how important Fairtrade is. We had some amazing designs from all the classes in school and the tree looked fantastic!

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Fairtrade Fortnight 2020

We are excited that Fairtrade Fortnight is here and we've had a display in the Hall for a few weeks giving clues!

Ethos group have been planning some events and we have thought about our FairAchiever Challenges. We want to work with the CO- OP and also encourage churches in Hyde and the Mosque to begin their own Fairtrade journeys. We've invited them all to our Cake and Coffee afternoon on Thursday 27th February at 2.30pm to taste drinks and baking made with Fairtrade ingredients, kindly provided by the CO-OP.

Our Collective Worship on 24th February encouraged us to look for the Fairtrade mark and to realise this mark promises farmers a fair deal. Our shopping can change the world!

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Coffee and Cake - Fairtrade Fortnight

Ethos group have decided to hold this event to encourage parents and church leaders to think more about Fairtrade.

Classes are baking using Fairtrade ingredients which the CO OP have donated. We're using cocoa, bananas, icing sugar, caster  sugar, soft brown sugar, chocolate and chocolate chips.

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Fairtrade at Harvest 2020

We used the family of cocoa farmers from the Fairtrade Schools resources to support our learning around family this half term and make links with Fairtrade.

Year 3 watched the Fairtrade Schools films and wrote prayers, some of which were read out in our Outdoor Harvest service. 

Different classes baked using Fairtrade chocolate and bananas and learned about the people behind the things we eat and enjoy. Year 2 learned and sang a chocolate song! Year 1 enjoyed dipping Fairtrade chocolate in Fairtrade bananas!

Harvest celebrations encouraged us to be thankful for all we have and then be generous with all that God has given to us. We collected tins and packets and gave these to the Foodbank but also gave away baking we'd made using apples from our orchard to family and neighbours.

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