Students at a special school in Bristol are conquering their anxieties by running a takeaway food trailer.
Knowle DGE Academy, on Leinster Avenue, has transformed an ordinary trailer into a ‘café pod’.
The school’s executive principal Darren Ewings said the idea flowed from the recognition that it was sometimes difficult to secure work experience for the youngsters.
Mr Ewings said: “We tried to think outside the box and think, ‘How could we create work experience’?”
The café pod, launched on November 15 to coincide with BBC Children In Need, was seen as a way to guarantee work placements.
Mr Ewings said: “Typically our children, because of their special education needs, they get very anxious in public situations or in situations they don’t feel comfortable in or they’re not used to.
“So when we try to find work experience, following the traditional path, if we were to put them in a garage or a shop they would find that very difficult without having support there.”
Pupils in Year 11 to Year 13 have been staffing the pod on a rota system, with the trailer’s most recent functions being a careers event and a Christmas fayre.
It will soon be enjoying a longer stay in Soundwell if plans for the construction of a special school go ahead.
Visitors to the pod are greeted with a menu offering teas and coffees for £1, as well as cheap pastries and soups.
Customers are also charmed by the pupils’ hospitality abilities and well-honed skills in social interaction.
Mr Ewings said: “We’ve got lots of rehearsals and role-play in the lessons. That’s what we’ve been teaching them - it’s a bit like drama.
“They find it easier if they pretend to be someone else - particularly for our autistic children.”
Mr Ewings purchased the trailer from an eBay seller in Bath for £6,000 - a generously reduced priced, according to the executive principal.
Mr Ewings said: “He [the seller] asked me why are you having to buy this and when I told him he said, ‘That’s fantastic - my own child has special education needs. I’ll knock off a grand for you because you’re doing such a good thing’.”
Mr Ewings said he hopes the cost of buying the trailer will be recouped within two years if the café pod ends up getting stationed for a prolonged period in Soundwell, before returning to Knowle.
Eventually, though, Mr Ewings would like an ambitious pupil to take on the trailer as a fully-fledged business venture.
“The ultimate aim is if we could train someone up and they could run that for us like a job - that’s the next step,” said Mr Ewings.
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