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Case Study 1: Thomas Adams School
Case Study 2: St. Benedict’s College
Case Study 3: The Young Co-operatives
Case Study 4: Whitby High School
Fairtrade products and suppliers
Dubble stockists

Case Study 4: Whitby High School

This report is from Whitby High School in Ellesmere Port:

Whitby High School ’s project began three years ago when the school’s Head of Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education undertook a cross-curricular Fairtrade project for Fairtrade fortnight with some Year 9 pupils.

Since then, this has become an annual event and become more ‘formalised’ especially with the introduction of the citizenship curriculum. Pupil feedback has been extremely positive. They enjoy the fact that this is an issue involving real people – themselves and others in a chain stretching back to farmers in developing countries. The school used the Comic Relief Pa Pa Paa pack as well as resources and information from their local Development Education Centre to help deliver Fairtrade in the classroom.

At the time Fairtrade was beginning to make an impact in school an enterprise project was taking place selling stationary. A geography club was also in place and the two decided to Dubble up forces and start selling chocolate bars to students! This provided a Dubble whammy! It helped to develop the enterprise and promote Fairtrade. Demand for Dubble bars was enormous! This was partially due to the fact that students enjoyed the product but it was also because they had learnt about what buying Fairtrade meant to producers in the developing world. Dubble is now seen as a symbol of Fairtrade in the school and provides a way of exploring values; of making a statement and a taking a stand while enjoying something.

Whitby is also a school with healthy school status and they view Dubble as a ‘morally good chocolate bar’ promoting the health of producer communities in Ghana. But from small cocoa pods great things grow! The initiative now has the full support of the school council and other departments have begun to support Fairtrade, for example, PE staff now sell Dubble bars after PE lessons. The canteen also now sells Fairtrade products following lobbying from the school council and a petition downloaded from the Dubble website. The fact that Cheshire is a Fairtrade county also helped as the County Council has been encouraging supplier contracts that involve Fairtrade products.

Whitby High School has shown how Fairtrade can be successfully integrated into teaching and learning programmes as well as forming a central part of the school’s values and ethos. Most importantly perhaps, it has allowed students themselves to take the lead in promoting Fairtrade thereby enabling then an opportunity for true active global citizenship.

Whitby High School ’s Top Tips:

A key event
Whitby High used Fairtrade fortnight as the starting point to build Fairtrade work into programmes of study across the curriculum.

The Citizenship curriculum
This provides a rationale for building Fairtrade into programmes of study.

Use resources and information available
For example, those supplied by your local Development Education Centre or on the Pa Pa Paa! site.

Tap into existing activities
For example, encourage the involvement of the school council, young enterprise group or geography club.

Use Fairtrade Town status
If your school is in a Fairtrade town this will help persuade your school canteen to stock Fairtrade products and you should also get support from the town council.