Once a week our Homecrafts room transforms into the Southside Café. Serving classroom groups a limited range of food items that meet all mealtime plans and dietary requirements.

The focus, however, is not the food, but rather a range of social skills for all students – both our café workers and customers. These skills tie directly into our Positive Behaviour Support School expectations, for example, transitioning to the café, responding to our name, working with others, expressing needs / wants and dislikes, waiting for a turn, following instructions from familiar adults and trying new things. The café provides an interim step to real world experiences, where behaviours can be taught and explicitly modelled by staff in a fully supported environment, including the use of each student’s mode of communication. There is also a focus on financial literacy, and the opportunity to practise skills in role play by using a personal ‘credit card’ to tap on the eftpos machine. For senior students, there will be the opportunity to develop skills of daily living and work, helping them prepare for post – school experiences.