Determined pupils succeed with e-café

Feb 9 2009

Pupils and support staff at Rutherglen High School have been presented with the Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland's Elementary Food Hygiene Certificate.

And after so much hard work everyone was justly proud of their achievement especially as this qualification means they can work in any catering establishment anywhere in Britain - a fantastic achievement indeed!

This is the latest success story for the café which was set up three years ago as part of an enterprise project and the national initiative 'Determined to Succeed'. Nine young pupils with additional support needs, together with the school's Enterprise staff, started up their very own school café.

The café began as a small venture run by the group of S4 boys and support staff and with each passing week the confidence and skills the pupils were gaining became more apparent. The main purpose behind the inception of the café was to give the pupils realistic and meaningful work experience of the hospitality industry and for some of them it would give them a regular work placement in the familiar and supported environment they required.

In order to ensure good practice and to further the work-related skills of the pupils, Enterprise teacher, Lesley Scholefield, approached the council's Environmental Health Service inviting officers to provide pupils and support staff with the REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene Course and give them the opportunity to sit the exam and gain a formal qualification. As part of the process it was agreed that there would be an 'out of school and into the workplace' scenario. All of the pupils and staff passed their exam with flying colours.

And with more and more pupils becoming involved last year, Lesley approached the council to put eight more pupils and three support staff through their paces to complete the course.

Environmental Health Officers, Kenny Joyes and Mary Harkness who were carrying out the training approached Cambuslang Training and Enterprise Company, (CTEC), a local voluntary sector organisation based in Cambuslang, which had similar requirements for one of its staff. CTEC was happy once again to take part and make available its facilities which include training rooms and a commercial kitchen on site providing an ideal setting for the course.

Lesley said: "As part of the class's research into the hospitality industry and to give the pupils as much knowledge and understanding of this field of work as possible, pupils and staff involved visited three working establishments. Each one offered a different type of catering to the public which was invaluable in letting the pupils see the diversity that exists in this field.

"One establishment visited was Moyra Jane's Café in Pollokshields and this link has now developed into it becoming a business partner with Rutherglen High. This is a true partnership which both parties intend maintaining. Pupils also took up work placements with Asda and Tesco.

"The E-Café has blossomed into a thriving real-life working business venture and has grown to be one of Rutherglen High's proudest achievements thanks to the hard work of everyone involved. The café gives pupils, parents, staff and friends a place to meet and chat in a friendly, informal way and has visibly improved the ethos of the whole school.

"This was recognised by the Social Enterprise Academy which presented the school with a Social Enterprise Award and to celebrate this outstanding achievement the pupils were invited to attend a Minister's Reception at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh."

Pupil, Stephen Boyle, 15, said: "I wanted to try something new and I enjoy this very much. I get a great reward from serving people and I might even consider taking this up as a job when I am older."

Kenny Joyes and Mary Harkness, delivered the training course, a pre-exam refresher and the examination paper and Mary was on hand at the E-Café last week to offer congratulations to all the participants and present them with their Elementary Food Hygiene Awards.