LGEC receives £5,000 grant from Fairtrade Foundation

14/06/2010

Lancashire Global Education Centre has been awarded a grant from the Fairtrade Foundation to support schools in Preston in achieving a Fairtrade Schools Award. The aim of this funding stream is to work with schools to embed Fairtrade into their global citizenship work and develop an understanding of the need for Fairtrade and the role Fairtrade can play in alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development.

The £5,000 grant from the Fairtrade Foundation will enable LGEC to promote the principles of Fairtrade and the Fairtrade Schools Award to the 60+ primary schools in Preston and enable eight primary schools to achieve a Fairtrade Schools Award. Two levels of support will be made available to Preston primary schools. 

The basic level of support will be made available to all Preston primary schools and will include free registrations to attend a Fairtrade training event; telephone support and consultation with LGEC staff; access to Fairtrade books in LGEC’s resource centre and online resources via LGEC’s website; and discounts on Fairtrade presentations and workshops for school classes and assemblies.

For the second level of support, LGEC will work intensively with eight primary schools in Preston over the grant’s six-month timeline to get them started on achieving the Fairtrade Schools Award. Specific support that will be provided to each of these eight schools will include:

• an initial daylong training and planning session for teachers and staff;
• assistance with an initial Fairtrade audit of each school and the development of a Fairtrade action plan;
• assistance with embedding Fairtrade principles in the primary curriculum;
• support with beginning the Fairtrade Schools Award process;
• a minimum of one school visit by the Project Co-ordinator to provide bespoke support (e.g. curriculum consults, planning meetings) based on an individual schools’ needs;
• an end-of-project reflection and future planning twilight session to assist schools in sustaining the work beyond the life of this project;
• significant discounts on Fairtrade presentations and workshops for school classes and assemblies.

LGEC will work to ensure that each school is well underway in the process by the end of 2010 with the goal of eight newly certified Fairtrade Schools in Preston by mid-2011. Preston became a Fairtrade city in 2004, but few of its primary schools have achieved a Fairtrade Schools Award. LGEC’s work through this grant will significantly increase the number of Fairtrade Schools in Preston.