The tuckshop or canteen is a key feature at most schools, but very
few have their own café. MacKillop’s Specialist School in Geelong went a
step further, opening their very own student-run endeavour, the Bitter
Sweet Café.
The café menu isn’t just built around delicious food and drinks, it
is designed around a range of learning outcomes. Since its doors opened
in 2018, few could have imagined this innovative project would be such a
success.
The café was recognised in the 2018 Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) Achievement Awards, taking out the
Teacher Award – Team Teaching category.
Announced by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
(VCAA), the café was recognised as an outstanding example of the diverse
ways in which young people can be challenged and extended to achieve
great learning outcomes.
The awards celebrated the achievements of young people completing VPC qualifications and recognise the exceptional efforts of teachers and
community partners who play a significant role within the VPC Program.
The Bitter Sweet Café is part of a VPC project aimed at supporting
local students aged 12-17 who are disengaged, or at risk of disengaging
from school. Students attending the school are unable to access
education in a mainstream school due to a range of issues including a
clinical diagnosis of depression, anxiety, autism, defiance disorder
and/or challenging behaviours that make it difficult for them to focus
on learning.
The café project has been made possible thanks to generous
philanthropic support from the Geelong Community Foundation and the
Dimmick Charitable Trust. This support means students can now gain
hospitality industry skills to support their transition to future
employment and training.
As part of the course, students complete their Level 1 Barista
Certificate, develop safe food handling skills and learn basic food
preparation. The café also enhances student numeracy, literacy, social
and communication and problem-solving skills. Teamwork exercises
include creating marketing material and preparing menus and budgets.
During the time the café ran in 2018, overall student attendance
improved by 20%, and all students met key individual café
responsibilities and completed VPC's Work Related Skills learning
outcome.
Such has been the project’s success, VPC teachers, Denise Walker and Hannah Stud, were invited to speak at a VPC quality assurance meeting, during which the project and the school’s VPC template was described as ‘exemplary’.
Denise said the café was an ideal launching pad for students to develop the skills and confidence necessary to gain future employment.
“We run the café as you would a small business. We spent many months planning and researching local cafes for ideas to give students some basic insight into how to run a business, considering everything from overheads and revenue, to marketing, menu planning and pricing.”
Throughout the project, the students also learn about
sustainability, recycling coffee grounds into the VPC garden and
encourage customers to bring their own reusable cups.
As for the students, their response to the café has been overwhelmingly positive, with comments including:
“The experience has been absolutely great, especially being able to connect with people in a different way. It was nice to know I had everyone by my side to help me through my job and the day. If more schools gave them (students) an experience like this, everyone would want to go and would enjoy school a whole lot more.” (Talia)
Denise said the Geelong school couldn’t thank both the Geelong
Community Foundation and the Dimmick Charitable Trust enough for
providing the funding to enable the café’s ongoing success.
“We are really proud of our VPC Program and are thrilled that our
hard work and enthusiasm is being noticed by the greater VPC community.
We look forward to continuing to grow and develop our program to
provide the best learning environment and experiences for all students.”