"When I visited Captain Shaw’s school during the Fairtrade week- It just lifted me off my feet and nourished my heart."

Pushpanath Krishnamurthy - International Campaigner for Fairtrade and Climate Justice

From a Bar of Chocolate to the Wider World

Sometimes important learning begins with something very ordinary.

For our children, this journey began with a bar of chocolate.

From Nursery to Year 6, children explored where chocolate comes from and followed its journey from farmer to shop. As their learning developed, they began to ask bigger questions about the people behind the products we buy:

Who grows our food? Are they treated fairly? What difference do the choices we make here have on someone living thousands of miles away?

Fairtrade gave our children an opportunity to explore fairness, sustainability and our responsibilities towards other people – and then decide what they could do about it.

A Real-Life Vehicle for Learning

Fairtrade became one of our Curriculum Vehicles, giving learning across different subjects an authentic purpose.

Through geography, children explored where products come from and developed their understanding of people, places, trade and our interconnected world.

Through English, they developed the language and techniques of persuasion and considered how communication can influence people's choices.

Through design and technology, children explored products and their origins, while learning across the curriculum helped them consider sustainability, fairness and the consequences of the choices we make.

Different subjects provided different knowledge and skills, but the real-life Fairtrade challenge gave children somewhere meaningful to apply them.

Learning From Others

Our children's understanding was deepened by a memorable visit from Pushpanath Krishnamurthy, International Campaigner for Fairtrade and Climate Justice, and Val Towndrow.

They helped children understand that decisions about food, trade and the environment connect us with people and communities across the world.

Their visit also reinforced an important message for our children: Your voice matters.

From Learning to Action

Understanding the issue wasn't enough for our children. They wanted to do something.

They created campaign materials, practised their persuasive arguments, researched Fairtrade products and took their campaign into the community.

Their challenge was simple: could they persuade local shoppers to choose at least one Fairtrade product?

In less than an hour, the children spoke to 79 shoppers.

70 said yes.

For the children, this was powerful evidence that even a small action – and a small voice – can influence somebody else's choices.

As one Year 3 pupil reflected:

One of the people that said yes thought that it wouldn't make a change, but I know it will.

Our Values in Action

The project gave children an opportunity to put our Christian and school values into practice.

They were encouraged to Be Respectful when encountering different lives and experiences; Be a Good Friend by considering the wellbeing of people they may never meet; Show Courage by taking their message into the community; and Show Wisdom by thinking carefully about how everyday choices can affect other people and the planet.

It also brought British Values to life. Children exercised their individual liberty to make informed choices, developed mutual respect for people with different lives and experiences, and discovered how active citizens can peacefully influence others and contribute to positive change.

Serving the Common Good

Fairtrade helped our children see that our community does not end at the school gate – or even at the edge of our village.

The food we eat, clothes we wear and products we buy connect us to people across the world.

Learning about those connections helps children understand both their choices and their responsibilities.

This is what Serving the Common Good means in practice: learning to look beyond ourselves, noticing where things could be fairer and having the courage and wisdom to make a difference.

A Lasting Message

The Fairtrade message remains an important part of what we want a Captain Shaw's education to achieve.

We want children to leave us knowing that they are not too young, their school is not too small and their community is not too remote to make a difference.

What our visitors saw...

Often I visit schools in Cumbria -I am always amazed at the way schools, students, syllabus and activities are used to enable the student’s ability and understanding in a holistic way. When I visited Captain Shaw’s school during the Fairtrade week- It just lifted me off my feet and nourished my heart. Here is a small school, impacted by its geography and industrial history “fall out” - it was so easy for it to be left behind. But the leadership and the staff team have proved what can be done with vision, passion, commitment and knowledge as well as wisdom, in what many would have felt was an impossible situation.

The students, young as they are, are sharp, inquisitive, familiar with current issues, full of optimism and keen to engage and make a difference.

The vision of the school:

“Captain Shaw's CE Primary School may be little but our dreams are big! We want to make every experience worthwhile for every child, every day. We are a part of their journey and, as such, endeavour to do our utmost to ensure each child fulfils their academic, personal and spiritual potential and succeeds beyond our school and far into the future.”

I saw every one of the statements above, with the school pioneering every word into action. I kept telling the story of the school to other teachers and schools I met in Cumbria following this visit. I saw in the school a pioneering spirit and an amazing place of breakthrough in these very bleak times.

I feel really honoured to have visited the school- what a great place!

Where there is visionary leadership- there are no walls or barriers for innovation, providing sustainable solutions in this climate wrecked world where Fairness and Climate safety can be addressed at the very grass root level.

Thanks for a truly visionary, encouraging and informative visit.

Sincerely,

Push.

Pushpanath Krishnamurthy 

International campaigner for Fairtrade and Climate Justice 

A message from Val Towndrow...

“Go Push Go!” was the motto for my visit with Pushpanath Krishnamurthy to Captain Shaw’s school during Fairtrade Fortnight. We came to give the children first hand experience of action being taken to support Fairtrade producers whilst also tackling climate change and injustice around the world.  Yet we left the richer,  because of what we saw happening already in the rich ‘family’ ethos of the school. Children are involved in choosing projects through which the curriculum is taught.  These projects directly impact the local community equipping the children to recognise that their voice matters.  That they can instigate and create changes for themselves, their community and the world through the choices they make.  This awareness of fairness, through learning about Fairtrade, sustainability and climate justice was affirmed by Push,  but from what we experienced in our visit… you are already well on your way! Congratulations and a very sincere thank you from us both.

ValTowndrow

Chair of Millom F.L.A.G.