Thanks from Oxfam

Porritt School have been awarded a 'certificate of appreciation' for helping to raise money for Fair Trade with our recent school baking sale. This certificate is on display in the Library. Well done to everyone who was involved.

Raising money for Oxfam

On Friday, the Eco Kids Club brought along delicious homemade baking to sell at our baking sale. The food was amazing and sold very quickly. We raised $167. This money will go to Oxfam who work with farmers who are struggling to develop their farming systems, like irrigation. We can also help them by buying Fairtrade foods.

Chocolate taste test

On Friday, the Eco Kids met and watched a DVD about the struggling farmers in developing countries. They found out that these farmers are very poor. They also found out that by buying 'Fairtrade' labelled food from our supermarket, we can help those farmers.

Taste test:
We had two plates of chocolate. One was Whittaker's Dairy Milk. (This chocolate is made using cocoa from Fairtrade farmers). The other chocolate was Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Out of the 15 people who tried the taste test, 10 preferred Whittaker's chocolate. Five preferred Cadbury.

Next time you are at the shop, see if you can find any food with the Fairtrade label.

What did you do for Earth Hour?

Did you remember to turn off the lights on Saturday night? What have you decided to do to help our planet? It doesn't have to be a huge thing, just something that you can do easily.

Tell us what you will do by posting a comment to this message.

Starship Mobile Phone Appeal

We need your old mobile phones! Porritt School is registered for the Starship Mobile Phone Appeal. We can collect points for the phones we recycle and these are redeemed for ICT equipment for our school. All of the money raised from the recycling of these old phones goes to support the Starship Air Ambulance Service.

All you have to do is spread the word! Drop the old mobile phones into Porritt School in Napier or phone for collection. Tell everyone you know. Let's get behind this worthwhile cause and help our school at the same time.
For more information have a look at the Starship website: www.starship.org.nz

Earth Hour

Earth Hour is this Saturday, 26th March at 8.30pm. It will be celebrated all around the world by turning off lights. You can join in too at home. Why not commit to doing one thing to help our planet? Here are some ideas and there are more on the Earth Hour website.

Buy locally - don't buy food that has travelled hundreds of kilometres when it can be bought from a local producer. It tastes nicer too!

Don't use any plastic that can't be recycled.

Have a shorter shower.

Don't leave lights on if you're not in the room - no point really, is there?

Can you tell us what you will do? Post a comment to this message.

How to grow sprouts using teabags

Thanks Kerry for commenting on our blog. We used 'used' teabags as these have been sterilised with boiling water. Cut a small hole in each one and sprinkle in some alfalfa seeds. Place these in a seed raising container or something similar and keep damp until they sprout. Have fun!