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School Transport - News and Information 

Black and White Cabs provides Transport for Children with Disabilities to many schools in the greater Brisbane area through our contract with Queensland Transport.  As part of our service we have a School Liaison Officer who visits schools that participate in the initiative.  Here is a report on an interesting program discovered at one school.

Marsden SEU: Real Thing Cafe
Fans of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares such as myself would be forgiven for thinking that finding somewhere to eat out where the food is good and staff attentive is almost impossible.  But I have come across somewhere I would like to share with you; it begins when I am greeted by a smiling child who asks how I am today and ends with chocolate slice and hardly a dent in my wallet.
The location is Marsden Primary Special Education Unit and the establishment is called the Real Thing Cafe.

The cafe is the creation of Ian Edwards (Head of Special Education at Marsden Primary School), inspired by a visit to a special school on the Gold Coast.  It began 7 years ago out of the need for a program that would not only prepare children with life skills but engage them in learning in ways a classroom cannot, hence the Cafe title. 

It's all part of the "Authentic Curriculum", which emphasises learning through real life situations and outcomes. Basically rather than mathematics by rote it's by (cash) register.		 Real Thing Cafe 

There are 82 children in the unit and approximately 27 from grades 6 & 7 are involved in the cafe. The cafe runs out of a room scrubbed down and repainted by students, nearby the unit.  The kitchen next door has the kind of appliances you would find in any cafe including the order rack which looks quite busy on the day I visit. .  However my order is not only taken quickly and efficiently but arrives just as quickly. I am amongst other staff and parents in the cafe which is visited by Principals and SEU's from other schools.  They have also hosted the Guidance Officer's district meeting.
 Marsden SEU The children are all dressed in typical cafe staff attire, down to the cap, apron and order book.
 
The food is also mostly prepared solely by the children and the menu consists of tasty wraps and jacket potatoes with your choice of savoury mince or creamy chicken.
 
There are also soft drinks as well as Tea and coffee, which the teaching staff prepare. 
They have a generous coffee company as sponsor who has donated a year's supply of coffee, mugs and sugar as well as training two staff members as baristas so you are in good hands.

Each week the children shop at the local grocery store for the ingredients and are not afraid to approach store staff for help in finding those tricky items.  They wash and iron all their uniforms, as well as setting tables with napkins, menus and of course the standard flower in a vase.  They chop most of the vegetables for the wraps, that can be sourced from their own garden near the unit.  They practice taking and writing down orders through role plays and even operate the register.  

Takeaways are accepted and popular throughout the school as I witnessed many alfoil covered boxes flying out the door.  I'm told the wooden take away boxes are all made by the children in wood work.  All this AND they do the washing up!
The chances for incidental and constructive learning are limitless.  It all operates like a professional business: therefore they learn appropriate grooming habits, workplace health and safety, counting money and giving change, conversation skills, teamwork, food storage and handling etc

More important than any of these it develops a feeling of success, as they interact in professional ways with adults in a work place context. 		  working the cash register
Their self esteem increases and so does their focus and drive.

The cafe has greatly reduced behavioural concerns within the unit.   At the end of the year all the children get awards listing their achievements in the cafe at the school presentations and one lucky child is named "Cafe Worker of the Year" which gives their achievements recognition within the whole school population.   Children from the unit have gone on to apprenticeships with major coffee chains, restaurants or as attendants in hotels.  

So now to the important information  - yes my creamy chicken jacket potato was delicious and the chocolate slice I was talked into was also a hit, as I shared it with another staff member at the Black And White call centre.  It left her asking - Is there more??
 
Chef Ramsay himself could not have given a better review.

If your school has children transported by Black And White Cabs and you would like us to attend an event or publicise it through this site, please call the School Liaison Officer on 3860 1833.