Going bananas... and playing fair!

Mar 23 2009 by Jeff Holmes, Paisley Daily Express

ONE HUNDRED pupils went bananas at Bushes Primary School, and teacher Alison Hill didn’t bat an eyelid.

In fact, the head of primary six at the Paisley school joined in the fun!

The occasion was ‘Go Bananas’ day for Fairtrade Fortnight and pupils – from nursery age to primary seven – were left ‘peelin’ just fine.

Alison said: “We were looking at ways of highlighting Fairtrade Fortnight for our pupils when we received a call out of the blue from Sainsbury’s.

“They asked if we would like a donation of 100 bananas and naturally we jumped at the chance.

“We have a Fairtrade Committee in place at the school with myself and Miss Wallace working in conjunction with a group of pupils. It works well.”

Last year, the Bushes committee came up with the novel idea of producing fairtrade fruit kebabs and, along with fruit smoothies, they slipped down a treat.

However, the 2008 success left the committee straining to come up with an event to eclipse the ‘kebabs’, but Alison reckons they may just have pulled it off.

She said: “The kids loved getting their photographs taken. They were given a huge inflatable banana to hold up and they had fun.

“And the enjoyment didn’t stop there, because the younger pupils did a Fairtrade colouring-in sheet, while the primary 4 to 7 pupils designed a special poster.”

Alison added: “We aim to highlight Fairtrade in a way that will appeal to pupils. It also brings home to them how lucky we are in this country.

“We have to say a big thank you to Sainsbury’s for the bananas – it was a fantastic gesture.”

Sainsbury’s spokeswoman Alison McGrory said: “We’re just delighted to have played a small part in the success of Bushes’ Fairtrade event.

“We provided 10 schools with 100 bananas each.”