Hospitality was the theme of the day for Sparrow Combined Technical Skills School students during an outing at 27 Boxes.
Sparrow Schools Educational Trust’s marketing and events co-ordinator Nazeera Gaffoor said the school introduced a hospitality course for the first time this year.
On 20 March students visited Baker Brothers at 27 Boxes where they learnt how to bake and make coffee.
It was an interactive and practical experience for the youngsters which is part of their course. Earlier in the month students also had a practical experience at Kidchen Concepts, where they learnt about culinary preparation and cooking for children.
“The students were also accompanied by their lecturers who will assess them after their experience. The point of these trips is to introduce them to the restaurant and culinary environment because some of them have not been exposed to how to host people in a restaurant before,” said Gaffor.
She added that the school is in the process of building an industrial kitchen at their premises in Westdene, so students can do their practicals in an actual industrial kitchen.
Sparrow Schools Educational Trust’s Research and proposal developer Amy van der Berg said an industrial kitchen has industry standard equipment such as stoves, crockery, appliances and a particular layout.
The aim is to prepare them to work in a restaurant’s kitchen after completing their course.
“The department of education initiated this technical skills programme which they plan on introducing into high schools. We were part of the pilot programme, where they plan to also incorporate technical skills into the high school curriculum so they can do practical jobs. This is due to a shortage of skilled artisans in the country,” said Gaffor.
Details: Sparrow Schools head office 011 482 1015.
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