Participation in Action: Pupils get a taste for business as they open community café

Pupils at Craigfelen Primary School opened the Graigos Café this month. Located inside a local community hall, it is run by a group of 15 nine- to 11-year-olds, who have been involved in every stage of its creation – from costing the menus, to hiring staff and putting bacon butties on plates.

The project began just over a year ago on the back of a successful school banking initiative. Head teacher Alison Williams decided to develop what the children had learned from that into a business. “I want the curriculum to be as relevant as possible to the children,” says Williams. “This is a really good vehicle for incorporating all their literacy and numeracy skills in an engaging way. It’s really motivated our pupils.”

Students from the local business college helped the children create adverts and design menus for the café based on their budget. The pupils drew up a business plan using a template designed for adults, which Williams says she tweaked to make more child-friendly. They raised funds for the project through a school disco and craft sale.

The Welsh government’s Community First Programme, which tackles poverty in deprived areas, advised the school on the scheme. The group also received help from charity Business in the Community and regeneration scheme Enterprise in the Valleys. “It’s been done properly as a real business,” says Williams.

Graigos Café is open for an hour every Friday morning. Parent volunteers help the children prepare hot food, while younger pupils work as waiters. Children in the kitchen have been trained in food hygiene, helping to serve toast and bacon rolls. “The response has been so good that we hope to open more days a week,” says Williams. She believes that in the future, the café will help boost other projects that make use of the community hall.

Healthier options
Williams also plans to develop the scheme to teach pupils about healthy eating. She says that once there are more profits to invest, the menu will offer healthier options. She also wants to rotate the group of children managing the enterprise to ensure all students can learn from the experience.

The money raised by the café is looked after by a local credit union, and reinvested into the business. “As we are all already very good junior bankers, all the money that we make from our café business will go into our new business account with the credit union,” says 10-year-old pupil Nathan Hills, who is one of the senior café managers. “The café will be an excellent way of bringing the community together.”

Williams adds: “The project will be ongoing – the sky’s the limit. Its success shows you’re never too young to understand what’s out there and how your learning fits into jobs.”