Fairtrade Schools Conference Success

85 pupils and teachers from across the South West region gathered yesterday at SGS College in Bristol for a Fairtrade Schools Conference to find out how their school can become ‘Fairtrade Fit’.

The schools represented were from as far away as Weymouth, Dawlish, Trowbridge, Devizes and Glastonbury, as well as Bristol.

They heard from Nicaraguan Fairtrade coffee producer, Margarita Espinoza, on the difference Fairtrade makes to her and her community, including providing school equipment and scholarships for children. There was also a live link up with Ranga and his workers at a factory in India making Fairtrade school uniforms, who spoke powerfully about how Fairtrade is a lifeline for cotton farmers who were being paid so badly for their crop they were in terrible debt, as well as enabling children to go to school instead of working in cotton fields.

Workshops on the Fairtrade Fortnight banana campaign www.stickwithfoncho.org.uk, the Fairtrade Schools Award, Koolskools school uniform and Oxfam’s Beat the System game proved very popular with the pupils, ranging from Year 4 to Year 8. In their feedback, these were rated the best parts of the day, as well as hearing from Margarita and Ranga. 75% of those attending rated the Conference ‘Excellent’ and the remaining 25% as ‘Good’. A Year 6 teacher called it ‘an entertaining and inspiring day’ and a Year 5 pupil ‘an amazing day’.

The students and teachers will now present what they learnt to the rest of their school, and many have pledged to work towards the Fairtrade Schools Award.
Photos show all the Conference delegates and a banana workshop in action!