Oxfordshire pupils marked Fairtrade fortnight with a “big banana race”, fancy dress and a market organised in association with local businesses.
Pupils at the Marlborough CofE School in Woodstock spent months planning the events, working with the Sustainable Woodstock group.
Other activities during the week include Fairtrade lunches, snacks and drinks in the school canteen every day, a Fairtrade fruit wall display created by 60 art students, a Mad Hatter’s tea party for sixth formers, and an after-school tea party for the staff.
Children were given free recipe cards and Fairtrade products. Teacher Jean Dixon said: “The day involved co-ordination with local businesses and hotels, and staff from the Woodstock Museum helped to support the fairtrade market day.
“We sold Fairtrade goods, promoted local Fairtrade community projects and there was even a life-size tea bag and fruit. The organisation was no mean job.”
This year, the theme of Fairtrade fortnight was to “swap your stuff” - replace food goods with fairly traded versions. Schools around the country also took part in the “Big Brew” - tea parties to encourage awareness of fairtrade.
Those which took part in the parties were Teesside High, Stockton-on-Tees; Notre Dame Catholic College, Liverpool; Hayward’s Primary, Crediton, Devon; William Alvey School, Lincolnshire; North Newton Primary, Somerset; Hexham Middle School, Northumberland; Ingleby Greenhow Primary, Middlesborough; Alsager Highfields Primary, Cheshire; Norris Bank Primary, Stockport; Wadham School, Somerset; and St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas School, Gateshead. KM.
