Fairtrade Fortnight is a national campaign marked across the British Isles and this year is celebrated from 27th February – 11th March 2012. As part of the Fairtrade Island Initiative, St Ninian’s High School are participating in raising awareness by creating Fairtrade cotton bunting to be displayed during the fortnight.
Jamie Kneen, a pupil in Year 9 and member of the Fairtrade Steering group says, “We have been very busy on the build up to Fairtrade Fortnight; cutting the Fairtrade cotton fabric into flags, decorating them and making bunting to hang outside the school and raise awareness that people can take a step to buy or promote Fairtrade.”
Mrs Jackie Merrick, the teacher who co-ordinated the bunting production, added, ‘We have had a great time working through the project converting the 20m fabric supplied by the One World Centre into bunting. The students have really impressed us with their enthusiasm to communicate the Fairtrade message by helping to make the bunting using much of their own time in breaks and after school.’
The bunting has been displayed at the front of the main building of St Ninian’s High School and consists of over 1000 flags. These have been decorated to incorporate footprints in line with the motto of Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 ‘Take a Step for Fairtrade’.
Contributions to the bunting were made not only by current St Ninian’s students and staff but also by future students from Onchan, Ashley Hill, Murray’s Road, Cronk-y-Berry and St Mary’s primary schools.
As part of the fortnight Year 10 pupils planned a PSHEE lesson for their year group to learn more about the importance of Fairtrade, particularly within the fashion industry, to be taught during the fortnight and a team of Sixth Form students created an assembly presentation which was delivered to all year groups to explain the importance of participating in the Fairtrade movement.
Additionally Fairtrade cotton producer Massatoma Mounkoro from Mali visited St Ninian’s on 6th March to address French A Level students and a Year 11 Textiles class, as well as meeting members of the Fairtrade Steering group. His visit to the Island during Fairtrade Fortnight has been co-ordinated by the Fairtrade Island Initiative.
During his presentation to students Massatoma shared that through the Fairtrade cooperative 10,000 farmers and their families are now benefitting from a stable income. The premium generated through the cooperative has been invested back into the community building wells to provide clean drinking water, a maternity centre which has reduced the child mortality rate in the area and now 95% of the children of the cooperative members attend school, as they have the money to buy the supplies such as uniforms and books. This is a particular achievement as nationally in Mali only 45% of children attend school.
Mr Andy Fox, Headteacher, comments, “As a registered Fairtrade School, we have made a commitment to raising awareness about the importance of global trade justice and the difference that buying Fairtrade products can have for producers. We aim to increase awareness not just within our school but also the within the wider community. I believe this initiative has enabled us to do just that.”
If you would like to find out more about the national ‘Take A Step in 2012’ campaign then visit www.fairtrade.org.uk/step, where you can register the step that you take to promote Fairtrade whether inviting a friend for a Fairtrade coffee or sharing a link on Facebook or Twitter.
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