May 2007

Dear School Councils

I hope the Fairtrade Schools Conference has helped to give you lots of good ideas about how to make your school a Fairtrade School.

The Fairtrade Schools Project will give you an opportunity to share ideas and celebrate your progress with other schools in the area through a website created just for this project.

Each school is going to have its very own webpage where you can let  the other schools know all the things you’re doing to make your school Fairtrade!

Getting Started

Try and do as many of these things as you are able to before half-term!

Project Name and Logo Competition

We need a catchy name and logo for the project so we’re having a competition among all the participating schools to come up with a bilingual name and logo design for the project.

To help be inspired you might want to look at the Fairtrade logo. The closing date for the competition is May 19th.

Unfortunately, each school can only have one entry so you will have the difficult task of having to select one to enter in the competition.

The winning entry will receive £50 for Fairtrade resources and will have the logo and project name used on the website and all project materials.

Spreading the Word

You need to think about how you’re going to get everyone in school enthusiastic about becoming a Fairtrade School.

• You could go into each class to explain what Fairtrade Schools are all about.
• You could talk about the conference and explain about Fairtrade Schools at an Assembly.
• You could present the assembly Ysgol Rhydypennau presented at the conference or another assembly to your own school.

Your Fairtrade teacher will   help you decide what you want to present to the school.

Set up Your Fairtrade School Comittee

• You’re off to a great start with the school council and Fairtrade teacher on the committee.
• See if a parent, cook, governor or other teachers and pupils want to be on the committee. It’s important to get different people from your school community involved if you can!

Display Area

• You’ll need to find a permanent display area for the Fairtrade School’s project.
• You could display posters and leaflets from the materials you got at the conference to start with!

Think Ahead about Your Summer Term Fairtrade Event

• If your school has a summer fete you could have a stall and display explaining what becoming a Fairtrade School all is about.
• Are there any parents who could help?
• You could serve Fairtrade coffees and teas.
• To help think of other ideas look at the list of "Ideas for Fairtrade Activities" or think of your own!

Website Launch

The launch of the website will be the first day after half-term on the 4th of June.

The website will have loads of useful information and ideas to help you work towards becoming a Fairtrade School. 

You’ll also have your very own school webpage to show what you have been doing and a bulletin board to discuss the project with pupils from other local schools.

Voting for the Project Name and Logo

• Each schools entry will be posted on its own school page.
• Your school needs to vote for your top 3 favourites and e-mail your choices to me.
• You can’t vote for your own school. 
• Please get your votes in by the 8th of June so we can announce the winner on the 11th of June.

Don’t forget to take minutes from your meetings and to take lots of pictures of all the Fairtrade activities that happen at school.

You will need to show what you’ve done when you apply to become a Fairtrade School.

Most importantly, remember that by becoming a Fairtrade School you are helping to make a real difference in the lives of children and families in many different parts of the world on whom we depend to grow much of our food and make our clothes.

Good Luck and Have Fun

Diane Isenberg
(Fairtrade Schools Project Coordinator)