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Pupils rise to the challenge by starting bakery

Alex Pope
BBC News, Bedfordshire
Reporting fromBedford
Castle Newnham School Precious, Asi and Chloe, standing by a brick wall, all wearing a black school cookery top. They all have long dark hair, and Precious is holding a tray bake, Asi, two loaves and Chloe a chocolate tray bakeCastle Newnham School
Precious, Asi and Chloe bake the items on a Wednesday in Castle Newnham's kitchen

A school has created its very own bakery to sell cakes and breads direct to a coffee shop to help develop children's real-life business skills.

Castle Newnham Bakery was started by GCSE hospitality and catering pupils at the Bedford school which now sells its wares to Mooch Coffee in the town.

Pupil Asi, 15, said it had helped her understand "what it is like to work in the hospitality and catering industry", and she hopes to open her own bakery.

Mat Dunkley, a partner at the shop, said it received two tray bakes and three loaves every week and treated the pupils "like any other supplier".

Castle Newnham School Three pupils in a school kitchen, putting bake batter into silver trays. They are all wearing black cookery aprons, with ingredients in front of them and metal cooking equipment. Castle Newnham School
All items are backed on the schools premises

The collaboration came about when Martin Jenkins, another partner at the shop, attended his son's sports day at Castle Newnham School.

He purchased some sweet treats at a stall run by the catering pupils and was so impressed with the quality that he requested an order.

Now, every Thursday, the pupils bake a variety of cakes after school, ranging from lemon drizzle and jam and coconut to chocolate slices and old school cake.

They work in the school kitchen to comply with health and hygiene laws and regulations.

They also care for a sourdough starter named "Kitty".

The finished food is collected on Friday morning and taken to the store.

Castle Newnham School A school pupil preparing loaves of bread, wearing a black top, her hair tied back, in a school kitchen. Castle Newnham School
The school said the bakery helped to make connections with the community outside the school, which was one of its main values

Chloe, 14, said: "Baking for Mooch Coffee is my favourite part of the week.

"I love the experience of working in the industrial kitchen and using the extra large equipment to bake the cakes each week."

Precious, 15, said: "I love visiting the coffee shop at the weekend and seeing our cakes being sold to the local community."

Asi said: "I would love to own a bakery when I am older, so this is the perfect experience."

Mooch Coffee Two women sitting at a table, having and coffee and cake. One woman has a child on her lap, the other is holding a cup up in her hand. There are flowers and hearts around the window and they are sitting on dark chairs. Mooch Coffee
The goods are sold at Mooch Coffee, in Bedford

Mr Dunkley said: "It's just brilliant, we don't treat them any differently because they're children, we treat them like any other supplier.

"I'm proud of the partnership.

"We're paying for a service and it gives pupils the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in hospitality, completing the full catering cycle by also supporting the community."

He said the shop was also planning to do more including collaborating with the school's performing arts department to host intimate acoustic music evenings to further enrich "the pupils' learning journey".

Mooch Coffee A glass cabinet in a coffee shop, showing a large array of cakes, with labels on them, boxes of food on the top and a sign explaining a collaboration with Castle Newnham School. There are two glass cake holders with a cover on the top with cakes underneath them. Mooch Coffee
Mooch has a sign that explains the collaboration with the pupils and the shop

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