Fairtrade school

Manchester Diocese has some fairtrade schools and would like to see many more. Trinity High School is an Eco-school and is seeking to become a fairtrade school by running a fairtrade tuck shop, stocking its vending machines with fairtrade juice and chocolate and doing assemblies to inform about trade justice.

Resources for schools

There are lots of good resources on the internet for finding out how to introduce fairtrade into your school. A good place to start is the Coop website.

Manchester City Council can also help you become a fairtrade school.

How other schools did it

Here are two examples of primary schools that have adopted fairtrade principles. At Holy Trinity, Ashton, a group from Years 5 and 6, calling itself the ‘Global Gang’, did some research about fairtrade on the internet. School Governor, Jane Carling, said “The children were so enthusiastic about what they discovered that they did an assembly on the theme.

“They then invited staff to a fairtrade tea party at which fairtrade tea, coffee, cake and biscuits were on offer and persuaded them to become a fairtrade school. The next step was to lobby for fairtrade fruit for their healthy snack. Thanks to the Global Gang, the school children now enjoy bananas and oranges that guarantee a better deal for their producers and don’t cost very much more to buy from the local Sainsbury’s across the road”.

St Mary’s, Reddish is another fairtrade primary school in the diocese. Jasmine Devadason, World Mission Officer, inspired the staff and pupils with a talk about global issues and fairtrade at their Harvest Celebration in 2005. The staff built on this in geography and RE coursework with the upper juniors. The school now uses only fairtrade tea and coffee and promotes fairtrade products at its Christmas and summer fairs.

Head teacher Marjorie Brown told us, “There is a growing awareness among adults and children in school about what fairtrade means. We continue to look for opportunities to promote it and it adds a new dimension to our fairs when we think about people living in different circumstances.”

How to promote fairtrade

There are lots of easy ways to promote fairtrade in your school during lessons, assemblies, social events, and by using only fairly traded products in the staff room.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

  • Set up a fairtrade tuck shop
  • Mark Fairtrade Fortnight by holding a fairtrade treasure hunt
  • Run a fairtrade coffee morning for staff to introduce the idea
  • Hold a fairtrade assembly (lots of resources are online at the Christian Aid and Coop websites)
  • Incorporate fairtrade issues into citizenship, RE and geography coursework
  • Invite a speaker to talk to your class or school (contact our World Mission Officer on 0161 828 1450 or Traidcraft on 0191 491 0591)
  • Link up with your local supermarket (e.g. do a consumer survey and talk to shoppers about what they are buying)
  • Hold a fairtrade event for the wider community.


The diocese can organise for a speaker to talk to your class or school about Fairtrade. Contact Simon Ambrose on 0161 828 1400.

If you are ready to commit to fairtrade in your school, download the Fairtrade pledge, sign it and return it to us by post. School Fairtrade Pledge (pdf 133k)