Alison Bellamy

08:42Wednesday 29 April 2015

AN inner city school has launched a new learning environment offering life
skills for youngsters.
Richmond Hill Primary is today opening its new coffee shop. Special guest MP Hilary Benn
will was due to open the venue.
Headteacher Nathan Atkinson said: The cafe has been built by professional shop fitters to
echo a working coffee shop. The resource will be accessed by children in school aged 311
years. The benefits are extensive and will support many interactive learning experiences.
It was planned, designed and built to enrich the learning experience of the children at
school. In addition to the added opportunities for children the local community will also
benefit from the facility in many different ways.
He said pupils will access the cafe to learn a range of cooking skills as they progress through
school. Gardening plots that will be used to grow produce that can be used within the kitchen
area.
The facility will be used for coffee mornings to engage with parents and as a venue for
meetings for the local community. In advance of coffee mornings pupils will prepare a
selection of cakes, buns and snacks which will be available to visitors.
Children from school will be invited to visit the coffee shop as customers. This will serve a
number of different purposes; to teach children how to behave in social environments, how to
place orders and manage a budget, as a reward for good behaviour, or on their birthday.
Parents and carers will be invited into school alongside children to cook a variety of dishes.
The project intends to show parents simple, affordable and healthy dishes that can be cooked
at home, provide opportunities for parents and children to work together with positive
outcomes and engage parents within the school environment.
The long term vision is to create a provision that can:
-Supply meals for vulnerable members of the community once a week.
-Open as a functioning coffee shop, run by pupils at the end of each school day.
-Operate as a business venture to provide meals at lunchtime for staff.
-Provide one stop drop in facility for the community to provide support for employment,
financial management and educational courses.