Enterprising Sixth formers launch new café

Members of Westonbirt Sixth form have been planning and undertaking an exciting activity which has displayed some impressive entrepreneurial spirit; the launch of a new café for staff and their peers.

The Enterprise Group began last September with weekly meetings to plan the opening of a café at school, called The Hound. A start-up budget was made available to spend on equipment, stock and decorations, which the group of seven Year 12 students allocated and spent after thorough planning.

The doors to the café finally opened last week and their hard work came to fruition.

The café is staffed throughout the week by over 20 Year 12 pupils; each of them allocated shifts throughout the day. It offers a range of hot drinks such as hot chocolates, cappuccinos, lattes, americanos, espressos and flat whites, as well as cans of cold drinks, chocolate bars and crisps. To be environmentally friendly, each customer is expected to provide their own mug for their hot drinks. The best-selling product so far is hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream as optional extras; a real winter warmer. Profits are mostly being reinvested into the café’s development, with some going towards funding sixth form events and socials.

Hannah Ash, Head of Sixth Form and Head of Business said:
“We set up the Enterprise Group as a natural extension of the fantastic work that our Sixth Form Business students undertake, which includes organising the annual Westonbirt Flower Show. The group is run as a co-curricular activity, open to all sixth formers and we have been delighted by the response. The students have worked incredibly hard in planning and creating all aspects of the café’s offer, from staffing to planning and procuring products, and even producing the name and logo. It’s been a really collaborative effort and great to see it launch.”

The committed workers have all displayed a significant level of responsibility and leadership in successfully coordinating this project. It provides an inspiration to younger pupils in the Senior School, who will hopefully want to be involved when they reach the Sixth Form to sustain the café and build further on this impressive start.