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Chesterton Community Sports College organised a Fairtrade Day on Friday 28th February as part of the national Fairtrade Fortnight. The theme this year was the banana trade and the day aimed to raise awareness of how Fairtrade can improve the lives of banana farmers and their families overseas.

A highlight of the day was the 'banana smoothie bike' which took centre stage in the school foyer. The bike uses energy from pedalling to power the smoothie maker and soon turned Fairtrade bananas into delicious smoothies which were enjoyed by pupils, staff and visitors throughout the day. The unique fun and fruity event drew crowds of pupils at breaks and lunchtime. Year 11 student James Brayford took responsibility for working the smoothie bike and did a fantastic job. During lessons classes came to have a go on the bike, sample some healthy smoothies and learn more about Fairtrade from 'Foncho', the Columbian banana farmer who is heading the Fairtrade Foundation's 'Make Bananas Fair' campaign.

The smoothie bike was kindly lent to the school by Keele University Sustainability Hub and two local supermarkets; Sainsbury's on Liverpool Road, Newcastle and The Co -Op in Chesterton generously donated the Fairtrade bananas. Blackfriars School and Newcastle Under Lyme Fairtrade Group ran similar activities using the banana smoothie bike to raise awareness of Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight.

Lessons across the curriculum had a Fairtrade theme for Key Stage 3 pupils.

In English pupils used descriptive writing techniques in a piece on Foncho and wrote Fairtrade banana poetry. One group composed 'An Ode to a Banana' and performed it as a group sing-along! Other groups performed a Fairtrade play, taking roles of people involved in banana production.

In maths pupils learnt percentage calculations by working out the proportions of the price of a banana that goes to the farmer, plantation owner, shipper, distributor, supermarket and on the Fairtrade premium. Other groups calculated the unit costs of a variety of Fairtrade products and compared them to non Fairtrade options.

The science department explored the intriguing concept of radioactivity in bananas. They discovered that the amount of radiation in 50 bananas is the same as in a dental xray and that 80 000 000 bananas would deliver a fatal dose of radiation!

Geography lessons covered the production and harvesting of bananas and relevant environmental issues and history lessons included topics on slavery and genocide and the impact on African countries.

In Modern Foreign Languages lessons pupils practised their Spanish speaking and listening skills in conversations about Fairtrade and buying Fairtrade goods and learnt new vocabulary connected to the theme.

The PE department organised a 'Fair Play Day' and all lessons began with staff discussing the principles of fair play and sportsmanship with classes. Pupils who displayed these attitudes well during games activities were rewarded with a Fairtrade banana. These bananas were kindly donated by the Co - Op store in Scholar Green.

Performing arts lessons included listening skills tasks based on African music and technology lessons featured some taste tests of Fairtrade snacks. Meanwhile in the computer suite pupils used their knowledge of software packages to design posters on a Fairtrade theme.

During form time and PSCHE pupils completed a Fairtrade questionnaire and had the opportunity to enter a Fairtrade quiz. Earlier in the week, Mrs Tilt had given an assembly to the whole school on Fairtrade and her experiences of living and working in Africa.

Newcastle Under Lyme is a Fairtrade Borough and two members of the local Fairtrade Group visited the school on Fairtrade Day and gave a fun interactive presentation to a year 7 geography class. Ian Jenkinson and Hilary Jones worked with the class on 'The Banana Game', a role play exercise in which pupils learnt all about the benefits of Fairtrade.

The memorable day proved very popular with students and staff alike and was featured by local newspaper, The Sentinel.

A gallery of photos from the day is available below. Please click on a picture to enlarge it.

Mrs C Tilt

Fairtrade Coordinator