Student-led Ako Café brews life skills in Whangārei

School staff support ākonga to learn practical life skills: from shopping the day before, to food preparation, to making coffees on the barista coffee machine.

Ako Café at Blomfield Special School Central Campus provides real-life learning opportunities for ākonga – teaching everything from practical barista, food preparation, and interpersonal skills to gardening and woodwork.

The student-led café, which opens for an hour every Wednesday, has become a permanent fixture at the school since starting in 2022 and is a living example of the school’s mantra ‘Discover Potential’.

Ākonga handle everything. That includes cooking, taking orders, delivering food to tables, and perfecting the art of creating coffee and tea.

Planning and preparation starts on Tuesdays and learning opportunities linked to the café are woven across the rest of the week.

Supported by food technology teacher Anna Alison, students create the shopping list and collect ingredients.

Some of the friendly faces you may see at student-led Ako Café.

Celebrating potential

In a truly collaborative and cross-curricular effort, students have also worked alongside hard materials teacher Caleb Piggott. They created cutting boards, a money box, food covers, and a café sign.

Caleb says the success of the café has been its recognition and celebration of the potential of ākonga.

“I think of our students as not having special needs but of special abilities.”

This year will also see the installation of vegetable gardens which will connect students with the produce they used in Ako and promote a holistic approach to wellbeing.

To date ākonga have raked the soil and built raised garden beds. The next steps are for planting and weeding to kick off.

At the café, all food and drink items cost two dollars and the profits go towards a special day out for ākonga at the end of the year.

Café staff members are barista trained and pass these skills on to ākonga, as well as making sure operations run smoothly.

Ako Café is open for an hour every Wednesday.

Healthy Active Learning

The initiative was the brainchild of former food technology teacher Carol Alsweiler in the early 2000s. It was reestablished by Amie Pinson, food technology teacher at the time, Sandy Van Doorne and Tracie Mitchell. The school has also been supported by the Healthy Active Learning team.

The café is bringing learning to life, whether that’s food preparation or maths.

Healthy Active Learning is a joint-government initiative between Sport NZ, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, and the Ministry of Education. It supports over 900 schools and kura to improve the wellbeing of tamariki and rangatahi.

“Ako Café’s commitment to teaching life skills, promoting physical activity, and fostering healthy eating is bringing to life the values of Healthy Active Learning by creating a supportive environment where tamariki not only realise their potential but thrive mentally and physically,” says Sport Northland kaimahi Ashleigh Ellis.

Proceeds from Ako Café (where everything sells for $2) go towards an end of term event for ākonga.

Principal Sally Wilkinson expresses her joy at the opportunities Ako Café has brought ākonga and is excited to see it develop into the future.

She says the initiative has not only strengthened bonds between students and staff but has also created valuable job opportunities for graduates.

Her advice for anyone considering a similar initiative: “Start small and manageable.”