We are proud to announce that we have opened our onsite Oast Café to the public. This is a long awaited reopening of the Café and follows a period of renovation that pupils have spent in upcycling and decorating the cafe in order to ensure a welcoming environment for all our former and new customers.
The café is open for one morning a week (Fridays) to provide valuable work experience to our pupils, with the aim of further developing self-confidence, numeracy skills and social and communication skills.
Several of our pupils have already undertaken various work experience placements in and around the local area and the Oast Café is yet another opportunity for our pupils to get some real life experience. We are always looking for potential and varied work experience opportunities for our pupils in the local area to help with their understanding of community and to get a taste for different and potential employment paths.
Last academic year, Key Stage 5 pupils completed a 10 week barista course through the One Church, Brighton to equip them with training to support placements in local coffee shops and potential paid employment. Pupils have also benefited from successful placements at Waitrose in Burgess Hill and AvTrade.
Within the workplace there is a growing understanding of autism, however, there is still a long way to go. It is well documented that those with a diagnosis with autism struggle to get meaningful employment. Only 15 per cent of adults with autism are in full-time employment; only 9 per cent are in part-time employment, with fifty-three per cent of adults with autism commenting that they want help to find work, but only 10 per cent are getting the support needed.
Working with those on the autistic spectrum in the work place can be highly rewarding for both the employer and employee as many will have exceptional skills which will enable them to succeed in a variety of roles.
We look forward to seeing you to the Oast Café at LVS Hassocks.
Opening Times: Term time only on Friday’s from 9.30 – 11am
Our pupils recently hosted a very successful Macmillan Coffee Morning fundraising event and are keen to welcome even more new customers to the Oast Café – check out our Facebook page for a few of the best pictures from the day!