Fairtrade Schools

Becoming a Fair Trade school is about much more than just getting a badge. The campaign can make a real difference to producers in developing countries. If a school meets all the criteria below they will be awarded a certificate by the Wales Fair Trade Forum in recognition of the effort they are making to promote and develop Fair Trade.

It’s not as difficult as it might first look! Have a look at the Action Plan to becoming a Fair Trade School and then pick out the easiest bits to start with. And if you get stuck or need some further help, get in touch with the Wales Fair Trade Forum at www.fairtradewales.com.

The Criteria

• Set up a Fairtrade School Steering Group
• Write & adopt a whole school Fairtrade policy
• Commit to selling, promoting and using Fairtrade products
• Ensure the whole school learns about Fairtrade issues, using curriculum based lessons and wider learning activities
• Commit to promoting and taking action for Fairtrade in school and in the wider community
• What next?

Set up a Fairtrade School Steering Group

N.B. This is a task that can be taken on by the School Council.

The group must:

• be made up of at least 50% pupils/ students with young people being given as much responsibility as possible for planning, decisionmaking, organising events and correspondence
• meet at least once a term
• have one named staff member and one named pupil as contacts for the duration of the application process
• involve a mixture of students/pupils, teaching staff, catering staff. The group could also involve governors, parents, local Fairtrade reps and others
• be the driving force to achieve and maintain Fairtrade School status
• be responsible for putting together the Fairtrade Schools policy

Write & adopt a whole school Fairtrade policy

The policy must:

• be included in the School Development Plan
• be approved by the Governors/School Board, School Council and all other school bodies for a discussion
• commit to promoting, selling and using as many Fairtrade products as possible, including food and drinks, sports balls and clothing.
• include a commitment to continue doing more to promote Fairtrade after the school has become a Fairtrade school

Commit to selling, promoting and using Fairtrade products

To achieve this you must:

• Sell in all possible outlets
• Provide and use at all events
• Use in the staff room and common rooms
• Plan to increase products available year on year
• Monitor sales and record progress in terms of the range and value of Fairtrade products sold, on an annual basis
• Plan to increase the FT products available year on year
• Encourage other local outlets to provide Fairtrade products

Ensure the whole school learns about Fairtrade issues, using curriculum based lessons and wider learning activities

This must include:

• lessons in at least 3 of curriculum areas
• lessons in at least 2 year groups

Commit to promoting and taking action for Fairtrade in school and in the wider community

This must include at least:

• Three whole school activities or initiatives, one per term, including one during Fairtrade Fortnight
  N.B. These do not need to be huge! It might be a Fairtrade stall at a summer fair, a Fairtrade sock throwing contest during sports day, a Fairtrade wine tasting at parent’s evening etc.
• One action to take the issues into the wider community
• Other appropriate learning experiences possibly including school enterprise groups, assemblies, displays, school plays, school newsletter or website etc.

What next?

When you have achieved Fairtrade School Status for your school, have a party, write to the newspapers – all that fun stuff. But it doesn’t end here! Remember your Fairtrade policy commits you to continue to expand your Fairtrade activities. In order to have your hard earned Fairtrade School status renewed each year, you have to show you are continuing and deepening your activities.

To get renewal, you need to do at least three new things per year:

• one within the school
• one to do with the wider community
• one to do with wider global issues.

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Action Plan to become a Fair Trade School

There’s no fixed route to becoming a Fair Trade school. As long as you meet the criteria that are set out you can do it anyway you want! But if you don’t know quite where to start this might give you an idea…

1. Get in touch with the Wales Fair Trade Forum (www.fairtradewales.com or www.masnachdegcymru.com) and get hold of a schools pack containing information on becoming a Fair Trade school, and a heap of ideas and resources.
2. Get together a Fair Trade steering group. Ideally it should have people who are interested in Fair Trade from all aspects of school life – pupils, parents, teachers and governors. Don’t worry if you can’t get everyone on board straight away. The group might start with just a couple of pupils and then grow from there. Best of all get the School Council to take on the task, then you have a ready made steering group!
   The group only needs to meet once a term, but you may want to meet more often. Basically meet as often as you feel necessary to make Fair Trade a central part of life in your school!
3. Get in touch with your local Fair Trade Town or County Group to see whether they can help you. They will often have leaflets, posters and perhaps someone who can come and speak to pupils and staff about Fair Trade. Also you might be able to help them. You can find out who they are by looking on www.fairtradewales.com or by contacting the Wales Fair Trade Forum.
4. Look for resources for schools on Fair Trade. There is a list of useful websites on www.fairtradewales.com. This is a good research project for pupils.
5. Look at the criteria you need to meet to gain Fair Trade status. Then start with some of the easiest bits. This will be different in different schools.
6. Look at the sample ‘Fair Trade Policy’ and change it to fit your school. The School Council can then present this to the staff and the governors.
7. Have a look at the list of Fair Trade activities and decide which one looks like most fun, then set about organising it. Or perhaps you’ve come up with some better ideas yourselves, in which case do those, and let us know!
8. Once you’re feeling confident do a school assembly to let everyone know about Fair Trade. You could even ask if you could do a short presentation to the staff too.
9. Make sure that Fair Trade is being included in relevant lessons. This is probably one for the teachers on the Fair Trade Steering Group to take up with their colleagues, the head teacher, and heads of departments.

Most of all make sure you have fun, and feel proud of what you’re doing!