Minister cafe serving once again thanks to help from students
A Sunderland cafe which closed due to the pandemic is being brought back to life thanks to a new initiative aimed at giving autistic people employment opportunities and work experience.
The Sunderland Minster cafe closed during the pandemic but is now being reopened after a partnership with the North East Autism Society (NEAS) means students from Thornhill Park School will take the reins in working at the cafe.
Thornhill Park School is an independent specialist school run by NEAS and the cafe reopened to the public on Thursday.
Nadine Horton, Principle at Thornhill Park School, said: “It’s a really exciting project for many of our older pupils who’ve missed out on work experience due to Covid.
"We were looking to rebuild our work placement partnerships, and the café at the Minster seemed a good opportunity because it had been closed for a while, and NEAS has a shop just round the corner”
“I got an immediate response, asking me to pop in for a chat and, to my delight, they said ‘OK, let’s do it!’ It’s a win-win situation because the café will be brought back
to life as part of the community, and our pupils will get real-life employment opportunities and work experience.
“As part of their individual learning programmes, some pupils will attend the café on a weekly basis. For some, it will
support longer-term goals to pursue careers in catering, but for everyone involved, it will help develop interpersonal skills.
"I’m so passionate about specialist education and the key is to make learning real.
This project does exactly that.”
The first order of business for the new cafe was to choose a new name, with students deciding on ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ – to celebrate Sunderland’s links with Lewis
Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The author is believed to have drawn inspiration for some of his characters while visiting his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, who lived in the Southwick area of the city.
Students also had a hand in creating the cafe’s menu, which includes scones, soup, sandwiches, cakes, teas, coffees and soft drinks and will also be involved in preparing meals, customer service, and dealing with money.