Fairtrade Fortnight

We had a fantastic Fairtrade Fortnight at Kings Copse with lots of different activities to get us thinking about how the choices we make can affect the lives of others all around the world.

On Monday 6th March, we had our brilliant 'Snack Attack Challenge', where the whole school took part in trying to make snacks using Fairtrade ingredients.

Children in Year 1 through to Year 6 worked together in teams to also come up with packaging, posters and adverts for the snacks they had made. The children all worked so hard throughout the day and came up with some amazing snacks (as well as some that were not quite so successful when it came to tasting!). The packaging designs and adverts were also very impressive and groups presented their ideas with great knowledge and enthusiasm. 

Children also learnt a great deal about why Fairtrade is important through a range of different activities, such as the banana game. This game got the children thinking about what is fair and unfair and how Fairtrade works to support farmers.

The supermarkets had the easiest job as they just had to cut out bananas
which were already printed on yellow paper.

The workers had the hardest job as they had to draw bananas,
colour them in and then cut them out.

It was hard work and they lost two of them team to illness!

The small farmers just had to cut out bananas and colour them but they lost
a lot of bananas when they was a hurricane.

Luckily these farmers were protected from losing money
due to the hurricane as they were Fairtrade farmers.

Having a Fairtrade break.

In the afternoon we had an extra break time in the hall to enjoy the snacks. Parents were invited to join us and have a tea or coffee (all Fairtrade of course!).

The Fairtrade Committee will be judging the entries and picking our winner soon so watch this space!

On Tuesday we were very fortunate to have Sue, from Shop Equality in Eastleigh, talk in our assembly. She gave some powerful messages about we all have the power to make choices that can have a real impact on the lives of others. She was also carrying a football throughout the assembly but promised to tell us more about that on her next visit!

On Friday the Fairtrade Committee spent the morning with Alison and Jon from Wildern School, sharing what we have been doing to support Fairtrade. The children really impressed Alison with their knowledge about Fairtrade products and the reasons why we support it. The morning also involved chocolate and banana tasting as well as a group challenge to make a Fairtrade logo using tissue paper. The groups were made to work as if they were farmers so started of with limited resources and everyone having an important role to play. Unfortunately there was a hurricane which took away any unfinished work, leaving the groups feeling very disappointed. When we returned from break, however, Alison informed us that as Fairtrade farmers we would be supported to start again and all the groups were given new resources to help them complete their task!

By the end of the morning the children had learnt even more about how Fairtrade helps people, which products can carry the Fairtrade logo and had made a fantasic display for our school. Thank you to Alison and Jon for a great morning and to all the children in the Fairtrade Committee who worked so hard and were amazing ambassadors not only for Fairtrade but also for Kings Copse.