A group of inspiring young people from The Cavendish High Academy have been showing off their hospitality skills, at an open day for the Cavendish Connect community café they run out of Halton Borough Council’s Brookvale Family Hub
The young people, all with special educational needs have been running the café for more than six months. Over this time they’ve been getting real-life, hands-on experience in hospitality, customer service, and business. The young team has been involved in every aspect of running the café—from planning menus and preparing food to managing orders and welcoming customers.
The Cavendish Connect Café grew out of conversations between Halton Borough Council and leaders at Cavendish High Academy around evidence that showed that while, with the right preparation and support, the overwhelming majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustainable paid employment, they are much less likely than their peers to be in sustained employment as they get older.
As the Council developed its Family Hub offer at Brookvale, an unused onsite kitchen provided the perfect space for Cavendish pupils to fulfil their ambition of delivering a café service to the local community.
Jamie-Lee one of the café staff members said, “Working at Cavendish Connect has helped me learn how to talk to customers and work with a team. I love to see people enjoying our food and customers with smiling faces. It makes me feel proud and confident.”
Alongside her work in the café Jamie-Lee has also completed independent travel training, which not only means she can travel to work at the café independently, but she is now enjoying ‘girls days out’ with her friends.
The café is designed to help young people develop key employment skills in a supportive and empowering environment. These include communication, time management, food hygiene, teamwork, and financial literacy—skills that will support their long-term independence and career development.
Talking at the open day, Councillor Tom McInerney, Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board member for Children and Families said “This project is about more than coffee and (very delicious) cake – it’s about building confidence, nurturing talent, and showing the wider community what these incredible young people are capable of.”
“We know, as demonstrated by the success of the Cavendish Connect café, that our young people with special education needs and disabilities have an abundance of talents and so much to contribute – all it takes is the right support and the right opportunity.
“If there are local businesses who are interested in exploring similar inclusive employment opportunities for our amazing young people, we’d love to hear from them.”
The café at Brookvale Family Hub is open to the community every Wednesday and Friday 10am until 12noon.
Local businesses interested in exploring inclusive employment opportunities can contact Lynsey.Carr@halton.gov.uk for a discussion around the support that is available from Halton Borough Council.