On Friday 3rd March, Greenfield hosted a Children’s Festival around the topic ‘Fairtrade’.
After hosting annual Children’s Festivals over the last three years, this week we hosted one that was exclusively for our Lower School children (Years 1 and 2). Alongside other local prep schools, our Children’s Festivals are always based around ideas of global citizenship, sustainability and equality.
For our first Lower School Children’s Festival, the theme was Fairtrade – and the students were all set to explore and learn about the importance of ethical and sustainable trading. After listening to a presentation about the need for Fairtrade and how our shopping choices can make a global impact on the lives of farmers and producers, the children then gave presentations themselves in teams about various Fairtrade products: from gold, cocoa, bananas gingerbread, and Fairtrade footballs.
The children then split into two groups and participated in different activities: in the school hall, one group enjoyed a range of ball games after learning about the process of making a football ‘Fairtrade’, and how the steps involved impact the livelihood of workers around the world. The second group headed to Mrs Butcher’s DT room where they helped make a batch of Fairtrade banana and chocolate chip cookies using many of the ingredients they had brought up previously in their presentations. We also had a few Year 6 helpers at the Festival to assist their younger peers.
To round off the morning, the children designed Fairtrade packaging for their cookies and thought about ways that it would be sustainable and ethical throughout the process. Lastly, the children enjoyed a lunch that was finished with a delicious batch of our Chef’s chocolate brownies, made using only Fairtrade ingredients.
We are excited to extend our teaching on global citizenship to younger children, through events like the Children’s Festival where they can learn about the importance of Fairtrade in a fun and engaging way. The children left the event happy and empowered, knowing that they had made a positive difference in the world, one cookie at a time.
