Pupils and staff from West of England School at one of the Fairtrade conferences, together with Mala Nangla, Marketing and Promotions Manager with the Fairtrade Foundation (far left)

Devon Development Education and Exeter City Council again organised a series of half-day conferences on how to promote Fairtrade in schools during Fairtrade fortnight this year.

Three conferences were held at the Global Centre in Exeter and attended by primary, secondary and special schools in the area. The schools that attended were: Wynstream primary; St Sidwell's Church of England Primary; Redhills Primary; Coombeshead College; Clyst Heath secondary; Teignmouth Community College and West of England School for people with little or no sight.

The conferences used various group activities to explore the benefits of Fairtrade to producers and farmers in the developing world and looked at the best ways of promoting Fairtrade in schools. See activity ideas on promoting Fairtrade in schools for some of the activities used. Left, students learn about the benefits of Fairtrade to individuals, families and communities through 'Fairtrade bingo' by taking on the role of a producers who has been helped by Fairtrade.

One conferences was for schools who have previously attended conferences on Fairtrade and are interested in working towards official Fairtrade status by the Fairtrade Foundation. This conference was pleased to welcome Mala Nangla, Marketing and Promotions Manager with the Fairtrade Foundation, who spoke to schools about meeting criteria for becoming a Fairtrade school.

Pupils were also very interested in hearing about life as a farmer in the developing world first hand. Simon Peter Lakony, a Ugandan farmer and teacher talked about life as a primary school gardener in Uganda.

A further conference was held at Cullompton Community College and involved nine feeder primary schools in the area as well as students from nearby Uffculme School (secondary). A group of Cullompton students, dedicated to promoting Fairtrade, helped to organise the conference. Right, students from one primary school discuss how best to promote Fairtrade in their schools.

Some interesting ideas emerged at this conference including holding a Fairtrade coffee blind tasting competition, a Fairtrade raffle, a Fairtrade funday focusing on art and drama, using Fairtrade fruit for infants and visiting the Eden Project to find out more about Fairtrade products.

Andrew Bell, who organised the schools conferences said: “The enthusiasm shown by schools for promoting Fairtrade was fantastic. Schools have a vitally important role to play in raising awareness about issues of justice and sustainable development. By meeting the criteria for becoming a Fairtrade school, pupils and the school community will be doing something very practical to help create a fairer and more sustainable world. Fairtrade offers an opportunity for students to engage in real active citizenship and schools have the potential to increase the sales of Fairtrade products enormously”.