Last year, International club learnt about Fairtrade issues. One thing that International Club were really shocked about what was that the bananas that are sent to school as part of the free fruit scheme for KS1 (which is government funded) are not Fairtrade as they had assumed that they were. They thought this was setting a really bad example and wrote letters to our local MPs to ask that they support their wish that the bananas sent to school are Fairtrade.

We made a campaign video to explain more about the problem:

Every day, approx. 2.3m children aged 4-7 in state-funded schools receive a free piece of fruit through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS). The SFVS is funded by the Department of Health. The bananas included in this scheme are not Fairtrade - International Club want the Government to change this.

We talked about other avenues of raising concerns with the government including petitioning parliament but as children, they can't submit an official one themselves. With Mr McKenzie’s permission, I have started a petition to Government on behalf of International Club to request that they consider changing all the bananas in the SVFS to Fairtrade bananas as this would have an incredible impact on the life chances of the farmers that grow them while also increasing awareness of Fairtrade overall.

Fairtrade is an international issue and we work to develop other pupils’ understanding of what Fairtrade is and why it is important. 

We have been awarded 'Fair Active' School's Status, which is  Level 2 of the Fairtrade Schools Award. This award recognises the actions that we take to promote Fairtrade in our school. We aim to embedded Fairtrade into our daily life and work to raise awareness of Fairtrade in our local community.