Understanding the three Rs Going bananas


Sibford School has gone bananas!


Following persuasion from pupils, our catering company, Thomas Franks Ltd, has agreed that in future, only Fairtrade bananas will be served on the lunchtime fruit counter. Sixth form pupil Finn, a member of the school’s Fairtrade Group, explained: “We are delighted that the kitchen staff has started providing Fairtrade bananas to students at lunchtimes, paying the premium price for them in the name of fair pay for those further down the production line. “We were able to announce the change to the fruit suppliers during Fair Trade Fortnight (27 February – 12 March) when we also held special break time sales selling Fairtrade chocolate bars, jelly beans and chocolate eggs and generally raising awareness of the Fairtrade campaign.”


Sibford catering manager, Mark Higgins, said: “For a long time now we have been using Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar, but our fruit suppliers have tended to differ depending on who has had the best deal. However, we like to work closely with the pupils and, following their well-researched persuasion, have agreed to ensure that, from now on, we will only supply Fairtrade bananas.”


In February, Year 7 visited Viridor Energy Recovery Facility at Ardley. The £205 million facility treats some 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year, converting it into enough electricity to power around 38,000 homes. The visit formed part of Year 7’s Geography studies on the environment and, in addition to touring the plant, the pupils were taught about the three ‘Rs’ … reducing, reusing and recycling. As they left, the pupils were asked to share their experiences with their parents who, in turn, were challenged to complete two homework questions … below are just some of the responses:


Year 7 are pictured at Viridor ERF with Megawattosaurus ... a life-size model dinosaur created from waste materials.


Q1: What was the most interesting thing your child taught you about their visit? • Viridor produces little waste and most of it is used in road building.


• They use ash from the incinerator to make bricks. • The site was once by the sea and they found dinosaur bones and footprints.


• Lots of coins go through the incinerator but can’t be melted and so have to be collected by giant magnets.


• The impact of batteries getting into the incineration system. • The incinerator treats 98% of Oxfordshire’s non-recyclable waste.


• Paper can be recycled over nine times! • The whole world wastes £12.5 billion on food each year. • Children in Kenya were so keen to learn that they built themselves a school made from plastic bottles filled with rubbish.


Q2: Having been ‘switched on’ to the importance of looking after the Earth’s resources, what do you pledge to do differently? • Turn the television and PS4 off during the day rather than leave it on standby.


• Take the lids off plastic bottles before putting in the recycling bin (bottles with lids can’t be recycled).


• Compost more. • Learn about up-cycling things. • Buy less, consume less and recycle more. • Wash our recycled rubbish before putting it in the bin. • Switch off lights in empty rooms. • Never use cling film again.


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