Published: Wednesday, 2nd December, 2009 4:16pm

All's fair for first school to be awarded status

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By Jennifer Black

THERE were celebrations in Houston recently as Renfrewshire's first primary school was awarded Fairtrade status.

Houston Primary School and Nursery are top of the class after receiving this important award and the children and staff at the school are over the moon that their hard work has paid off.

Head teacher, Myra Hamilton, said: "Achieving status as a Fairtrade school is a very proud moment for Houston Primary School and this achievement is due to the hard work and dedication of pupils, parents and staff."

The delighted school celebrated the news with Councillor Brian Lawson, convener of Renfrewshire's Fairtrade Steering Group.

He said: "I am delighted that Houston Primary and Nursery Class has become Renfrewshire's first Fairtrade primary school. This is a fantastic achievement and I'd like to congratulate all the staff and pupils for their hard work."

The school began their involvement in Fairtrade three years ago by inviting representatives from Rainbow Turtle to give talks at assemblies.

Following this pupils and staff built a range of Fairtrade projects into the curriculum, including running a Fairtrade stall and cafe, creating and making Fairtrade recipes, playing a fair trading game and learning about the impact of Fairtrade on farmers.

Councillor Lawson added: "This rounds off a great year for Renfrewshire's Fairtrade campaign and demonstrates the range of local people who have been active in supporting Fairtrade.

"This is also very encouraging for those individuals or groups who may be thinking about forming a Fairtrade group in their community.

"To maintain Renfrewshire's Fairtrade status we need to keep up our commitment to helping third world farmers and producers get a better deal and one of our key goals is to make every town or village in Renfrewshire a Fairtrade zone."

Renfrewshire became one of Scotland's newest Fairtrade counties in February 2009.

This followed on from the success of Bishopton, Lochwinnoch and Paisley who all have Fairtrade status.