Getting a foot in the door of work experience is difficult for any young person.
For teenagers with SEND it can be even harder. Which is why staff at Pioneer House High School took the matter into their own hands.
Two years ago, they set up the Strawberry Fox Café in an under-used area of the school to help their students gain the skills needed for the workplace, and to encourage local businesses to be more open about employing young people with learning difficulties.
The venture has been so successful, that the café has expanded and now has a mobile coffee shop taking its catering to wherever it is needed, including community events.
Students at the Manchester special school have a range of SENDs, including autism and significant learning difficulties. Many enter Year 7 with the working ability of a Year 2 pupil, and some are less independent than others.
As Diane Ainsworth, the former deputy head of the school, who was involved in setting up the initiative, explained: “We have more than 170 pupils aged 11-19 years in the school, but the café is really aimed at those aged 15 and over to give them valuable skills and experience.
“We know from research that only about 5% of young people with significant learning difficulties are in paid employment so we wanted to do something to reverse that, and to allow our students to engage with the local community a bit more.
“We wanted to remove the stigma of being in a special school, and in a deprived area of the city, and to help the young people feel like they’re part of the community.
“The café used to be just a white room with a fridge in it. Now it is beautifully laid out and somewhere people want to come.”
The name of the café, thought up by students, originates from the fact that they grow strawberries in their forest school, and the school has a fox that is known to visit the school site at night.
A local interior designer designed the café, and the students put together a menu and decided how they wanted to utilise the space.
A welcoming space
The café is not open to the public due to safeguarding guidelines, but local businesses, community groups and the council use it for meetings and events, with the students serving drinks and food. This gives them an opportunity to mix with the ‘movers and shakers’ in Manchester and to develop connections.
On some days they prepare lunches for school staff and are also developing relationships with the local community. For example, the café is open to older people who want to improve their computer and digital skills, as well as to parents who can attend workshops. Local primary schools bring pupils over to play board games.
Some of these initiatives help both students and people living alone the opportunity to mix, and to tackle social isolation.
The biggest benefit of the café will be society’s acceptance of our young people
Students at Pioneer House High School also produce merchandise, such as tote bags, coffee cups and candles that people can purchase.
Ainsworth said: “We offer the café out as bookable space so groups can reserve space with us for their meetings, and it’s been well-utilised by the director of education and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
“The students are developing customer service skills, communication, leadership and problem-solving, among others, in a safe environment.
“They are building the confidence and resilience to be able to go up to someone they don’t know and speak to them, by asking what they would like to eat or drink.
“The venture has been so successful that we have bought a coffee van and are talking this out on the road to give these young people experience of doing this out in the community, and not just in their safe space.
“So, we might an event taking place in a park, or a local community activity. It’s a significant step forward for some of them.”
Crucially, the café gives the students an opportunity to show what they can do which tackles negative assumptions about people with SEND.
Working towards qualifications
All students get an opportunity to work in the café, though it isn’t a role that appeals to all. Some of the students who particularly enjoy it are working towards a barista qualification.
The students’ work in the café also feeds into Manchester City Council’s Skills for Life scheme, an approach which raise the profile of skills for children and young people to equip them for life. The five skills are: communication, problem solving, self-belief, self-management and teamwork/ leadership.
From this year their progress on the scheme is being tracked and recorded by staff at Pioneer House so they will be able to demonstrate their skills and what they have learned.
Two of the older students deliver weekly coffee mornings to a group called Wythenshawe Good Neighbours (WGN). The session is a welcoming space for older residents to connect, socialise, and receive support.
Participants have described both boys as having exceptional hospitality skills, a warm presence, organisational skills, and dedication, all of which have created a positive, friendly atmosphere.
At least one of the boys hopes to go on to gain employment in a café and has gained unit awards towards a qualification.
“Recording and tracking their progress means that those skills that they’re learning, and all that experience, will go with them to their next steps,” Ainsworth added. “It’s also about helping them to understand the transferability of those skills, because not everybody wants to work in a café.
“But if they can communicate, turn up on time, and look smart then I think it will set them up nicely for the future.
“Though, for me, the biggest benefit of this initiative will be society’s acceptance of our young people.”
*Pioneer House High School won the Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award 2025 in the TES Schools Awards. For more information, go to: strawberryfoxcafe.com
