GLENBURN SCHOOL

Palm Court Cafe

It’s Friday morning, there is a buzz about the school, pupils sit chatting over a juice, staff relax with pupils, parents and friends drop in. The Palm Court Café is in full swing in the Crush Hall of Glenburn School.

The café has been running weekly for twelve years. Not only do the pupils of S4 – the ‘Café Crew’ - run the café, but all the fresh food sold is baked by the pupils during their Home Economics time the previous day.

If you sit in the café and enjoy one of the seven cake selections on offer you’ll see the Café Crew provide table service with courtesy and efficiency. Many examples of good educational practice are embedded in the operation of Palm Court Café.

The Café Crew is neatly dressed in white shirts and matching aprons (of a design chosen by the group). Each crew member, serving at his or her allotted table, brings round a cake trolley to allow the customers to choose what they want to eat.

Each table is attractively set with flowers, placemats, napkin holders and a menu card.

The placemats were designed by the school pupils, while the Café Crew designed and made the napkin holders during Technical classes at the neighboring Greenock. The menu card, in the form of a booklet, includes a picture of the pupil who serves at that table. High School

At any one time, half the Café Crew waits on table. The balance makes milk shake orders, pours juices, washes dishes and - with support - pours the teas and coffees. No one is idle, and the group works as a team serving, clearing tables and resetting them for the next class.

But those at Palm Court Café tables enjoying such good service and food are not simply pupils and those with close ties to them.

The Café Crew sends out invitations at the beginning of each session to our consortium primary schools and nursery schools. This session, two nurseries accepted the invitation and have been weekly visitors at the café. Also, St Gabriel’s Primary School visited on several occasions for an all-expense paid outing as reward for pupils who had excelled at a particular project.

Then there are the outside agencies which make use of the café’s relaxed setting to visit children with their peers.

This informal setting and good food has also been an attraction for some of our local Education Officers and private sector businesses, particularly the Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgage Centre.

On several occasions the Mortgage Centre has booked tables at the café as a venue for meetings.

The Manager of the RBS Mortgage Centre said “We visit Palm Court Café to support the fine work being done at Glenburn and specifically the efforts of the Café Crew. Their enthusiasm and hard work is marvelous. The cakes are rather special too!”

Such a variety of customers helps the Café Crew to deal with a cross-section of the public and overcome, in a safe and controlled way, any awkwardness they may feel when meeting people for the first time.

Just as in a ‘real’ café, customers are expected to pay before they leave and a till point is operated by a member of staff, and where appropriate, one of the Café Crew. Each pupil is expected to relate what they ordered and then hand over the appropriate money. A basket of fruit sits beside the till giving pupils another option to budget or add to their original order.

The money generated by the café is banked and used to supplement residential stays and other extra curricular activities. Any tips are collected and at the end of the session the Café Crew chose a charity to which to donate the money. This year, a cheque for £100 was handed over to the PDSA.

Other charities also benefit from the proceeds.

Every year, Palm Court Café participates in the Macmillan Cancer World’s Largest Coffee Morning. Invitations are sent to all parents and some £150 is raised annually for the charity. Christian Aid and the local hospice also benefit.

Wherever possible Fair Trade produce is purchased, and during Fair Trade Fortnight leaflets and free Fair Trade samples are set out at the café to highlight this initiative.

Then there are the fun cafes where we make special cakes and biscuits to celebrate St Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Burns Night…………………….!

Next session there will be the opportunity to further develop ICT skills by producing a café recipe book. This book might be used as an enterprise activity to further develop the skills of the pupils.

Each successive group of pupils has added its personal touch to Palm Court Cafe helping it develop into the popular and successful enterprise it is today - only time will tell what ideas and initiative next session’s ‘café crew’ will come up with.

Primary 6/7 had a wonderful celebration for Roald Dahl day Wednesday 13th September 2006. The class accessed information from the Roald Dahl web page and downloaded lots of interesting pieces of information about Roald Dahl. The site had lots of brilliant ideas and recourses which helped to make the day really special.

Roald Dahl would have been 90 on that day and this was the first special day to mark his birthday. P6/7 decided they would like to make a display of Roald Dahl's books, stories and poems.

The class shared out the tasks to prepare the classroom. Then they invited primary class and teachers to their classroom on Wednesday afternoon.

The tasks involved were:

1.       Book display

2.       Display if yellow food (Roald Dahl’s favourite colour)

3.       Make Roald Dahl badges

4.       Welcoming party to welcome the other classes to the P6/7 classroom.

5.       Roald Dahl quiz

6.       Pupil to dress up as Willy Wonka from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”

7.       Pupil to operate the video and select the Roald Dahl videos.

8.       Re-arrange the chairs and organize the seating plan

9.       Give out food and drink

The afternoon went in very quickly and everyone worked very hard to make the day great fun. The other teachers and pupils thanked us for thinking about them and inviting them into our classroom.

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