As Ringwood’s work on the One World theme continued throughout the Summer term, we tried to meet the Roots & Shoots challenge of spreading the word of Roots & Shoots (Exercise 2 of J’s Lost Notebook). The many school and community projects that we have been involved with and that are described below, have allowed us to share the ideas of Roots & Shoots.

We agree with the Roots & Shoots principle that is so beautifully demonstrated with the Greater Gombe ecosystem, that making small scale local changes can make a big difference over time. Our first application of this principle relates to Fairtrade. Our Chronobots have worked throughout the year to raise the profile of Fairtrade in the community. To …

Read all of One World: People in a Global Village – Mission Update!!

I can’t begin to write this posting without first offering a huge Thank-You to everyone at Roots & Shoots for our Gold Award. It helps that we are family based and that the agents who are able bodied do not appear to perceive other agents’ difficulties as a barrier to certain experiences. I think one of the greatest assets of the group is their willingness to adapt and accommodate the array of strategies we employ.

One of the …

Read all of Hi from the thawing North! – Highlands Mission Update!

What a busy but productive few months we have had!

In school we raised £2169 for Haiti and donated this to Shelterbox.
Our links with the Congo continue as we support the development of a school and the empowerment of the children as they are able to access knowledge.
Students in English wrote to Nestle and as a direct result Nestle switched to Fair Trade Sources.
Visiting medics came into school and gave a very informative lecture about Madagascar including its environmental issues and the project work on health and contraception.
Two members of staff went to Nigeria and we are now forming active links across the curriculum.
Within the college we have planted up four raised beds with vegetables, herbs and soft fruits. …

Read all of St. Luke’s Science & Sports College – Mission Update!

The whole school took part in Fairtrade Fortnight. We started by having a special assembly about Fairtrade and asked parents if they would take part in this year’s ‘Big Swap’ to change to Fairtrade products. We had a display of everyday Fairtrade items such as tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar and bananas. The older children learnt how these items were produced, writing for instance about cocoa production and how bananas are grown. Some children wrote poems or drew pictures and Fairtrade logos for our display. On the last day we held a Fairtrade tea party. The children played international games in the playground before sitting down to a teaparty of Fairtrade hot chocolate, tea and cakes made with Fairtrade ingredients. …

Read all of Coleshill School’s Fairtrade Fortnight – Mission Update!

One World – People in a Global Village
This report describes the small and local actions that we have taken as citizens of a global village. We hope that by acting locally we can help to effect some global changes. It is the ‘People’ section of our Roots & Shoots mission.

Students are aware that global warming underpins much of the world’s problems, and have thus signed the school up to 1010, represented the school on The Wave, held a climate change conference and initiated direct contact with students in Tuvalu, likely to be one of the first islands in the world to disappear beneath the waves. These events describe ‘environment’ rather more than ‘people’ so will be discussed here …

Read all of Ringwood School’s One World Project

A group of yr 10 students conducted a Fairtrade survey around the local area for the One World Centre. If a shop sold 2 or more Fairtrade products they could be included in the Island Fairtrade directory. The students enjoyed planning and conducting their survey. Most shops made them welcome and welcomed the opportunity to be included in the directory.

The students were surprised that the larger local supermarkets did not sell as many Fairtrade products as the smaller Co-Op store. Only Co-Op wanted to develop their Fairtrade products, Shoprite did not. There were many little shops who tended to sell one product …

Read all of Queen Elizabeth II High School’s Fairtrade Survey – Mission Update!

Some of the children are doing individual projects, whether on animals, fungi, plants.

The school has a climate change garden which educates the children about being aware of climate change and its affects on the environment. The garden includes native plants and
vegetables which they are selling at the school gates.

They are currently building an invertebrate habitat, which is a very extensive project for them.

The school is a big follower of Fairtrade and two year 8s as well as two year 11s gave a presentation on Fairtrade at a recent fair-trade conference.

The school is also heavily involved with recycling and are one of the best recyclers in Hampshire. They are leading 9 other schools in a sustainable schools initiative.