The first three schools in Cumbria to be awarded Fairtrade School status are: St Joseph’s School, Workington, Brampton Junior School and Ullswater Community College, Penrith. Congratulations to them.
   Other schools which are working towards Fairtrade status include:

• Austin Friars School, Carlisle
• Caldew School, Dalston
• High Hesket CE Primary School
• Jame Rennie School
• Kingmoor Junior School
• Newman Catholic Secondary School
• St Aidan’s County High School
• St Anne’s School, Windermere
• St Benedict’s Catholic High School, Whitehaven
• Trinity School, Carlisle
• Warwick Bridge Primary School

For more information about Fairtrade Schools including how to achieve Fairtrade status for your school, go to www.fairtrade.org.uk/schools.

We are actively seeking Fairtrade status and have had our fair trade policy endorsed by our governors. We have a fair trade committee made up of 5/6 pupils. We have had whole school assemblies and a fair trade café. We are chasing up our fruit scheme to see if it is possible to change to fair trade snacks, organising a fair trade theme for our sports day and years 3 and 4 are having a fair trade afternoon involving a stock market game.
Contact: Jen Ager, Year 5 Class Teacher.
www.high-hesket.cumbria.sch.uk

Newbarns Primary School is working towards Fairtrade status. It has set up a Fairtrade steering group consisting of children in years 5 and 6, teacher Emma Foot, the canteen cook and Chair of Governors.
   The school has held a Fairtrade lucky dip at the Christmas fair where donated items could be won to encourage people to try Fairtrade items and hopefully replace their usual brands with Fairtrade items.
    The school has also been visited by the chair of Cumbria Fair Trade Network, Elspeth Sherwen, and her husband, to talk about Fairtrade to the whole school, which the children found interesting and thoroughly enjoyed.

During Fairtrade fortnight 2008 teacher Lesley Turney and students Annaliese Murray and Flo Lindeman attended a reception held in Keswick which was addressed by Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. The students said “We found talking to her inspirational and she was very excited by the project we are running”.
Contact: Lesley Turney. www.ullswater.cumbria.sch.uk

The Cockermouth School Fairtrade group has been running for about a year and has become a successful enterprise within school. We run a Fairtrade tuck shop at break times selling a range of products including apples and juice. For special events such as Christmas and Valentines Day we also sell chocolate bars, cookies and Fairbreaks which have been very popular. We are showing Cockermouth School’s dedication to Fairtrade by ensuring that all of the tea and coffee served to parents at parents’ evenings, the school carol service and other community events is Fairtrade.
    In the future we hope to continue to raise awareness of Fairtrade by ensuring that all year groups have the opportunity to buy Fairtrade at break times and through targeting the teachers! We are also hoping to work with Cockermouth Fairtrade Group at community events over the next year to increase awareness in the town.
By: Bryony Mitchinson, Chantal Price and Alan James, Cockermouth School Fairtrade Group