Children at Pantside Primary School, in Newbridge, are celebrating the success of their new community cupcake café.
The initiative allows Year 5 and Year 6 pupils to serve a range of hot and cold refreshments to parents, classmates and teachers. Pupils are responsible for taking and preparing orders as well as using a till to take payments and give change. They even have the opportunity to get involved in planning menus and pricing products.
The new café has all the equipment the pupils need, including a coffee machine, oven and dishwasher to ensure they deliver a high class product alongside fantastic customer service. Pupils have received training in how to safely operate the equipment as well as how to make and properly present delicious treats and warming drinks.
Sophie Lewis, Acting Deputy Head of Pantside Primary School said: “The new community cupcake café is giving our pupils the opportunity to use their literacy and numeracy skills in real life situations. The children love working in the café and it’s given them real aspirations for the future.”
I am sympathetic to the pupil development concept schools seem to be focussing on with these initiatives, but I would much prefer to see them in the class room. Let us extend school days, extend term time and increase the emphasis placed on learning.
Grammar schools would be a step in the right direction but mass privatisation of schools with a voucher system as seen in Sweden or the Netherlands is the way forward in my opinion. In combination with this, teaching needs higher entry standards as some secondary school teachers do not even have a degree. The job ‘teacher’ seems to have been defamed a bit in recent years but in Denmark teaching is viewed on the same level as being a doctor or a court judge. Teaching requirements involve a master’s degree with a further year on top.