The Sandy Park Café is a not-for profit CIO run by Student Futures, a Charitable Trust registered with the charity commission, charity number 1180845.

Menu

Click here to view a copy of our Menu. 

Overview 

The Sandy Park Café is part of our whole school employability strategy at Sandfield Park School – supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to gain relevant work based skills and to give them improved opportunities of getting paid employment once students have left school.

Nationally only 5% of students with SEND gain any form of paid employment once they have left school.
Student Futures with 4 non-paid directors  will ensure that The Sandy Park Café follow The object of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). This is:

1. a) For the public benefit to promote the education (including social and physical training) of people under the age of 25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) by providing meaningful work experience and supportive internships for these young people that could lead to employment opportunities and improve on the current 5% nationally of SEND young people who only achieve this.

Where are we up to?

The Cafe has been open since February 2019. During that time, it has given work experience opportunities to many pupils from Sandfield Park School including ACE. Even during the pandemic, we opened when we could, and provided a take away service and supported a mini enterprise project involving pupils in school.

Many of the pupils who have worked in the cafe have used this experience to move on to the next stage of their life successfully. Sometimes this would mean getting a supported internship in another organisation, like the Marriot Hotel, the Liverpool Museum and also for one pupil moving onto a supported apprenticeship. For others it has helped them gain greater confidence and be able to move on to a college.

Tuesday to Friday the cafe is open to the public offering students of Sandfield School and ACE work experience. It is closed on Mondays to provide students from ACE with an opportunity to attend cookery and independent skills workshops. During these workshops, the students take the lead in deciding what meals they would like to prepare and eat. They also bake cakes that the cafe will sell for the remainder of the week when it opens to the public. Students actively participate in selecting ingredients at a local supermarket, following recipes, and working together to create the final dishes. In addition to cooking, they are taught valuable life skills such as effective cleaning and proper use of the dishwasher. These workshops not only help students develop culinary skills but also promote teamwork, independence, and responsibility, making the workshops a meaningful space for both personal growth and community engagement. These workshops take place with one small group in the morning and one small group in the afternoon so students are able to attend without interference to the normal timetables. An LSA from ACE support students in these workshops at the cafe alongside Angela who runs the cafe.

All pupils are being very well supported in their roles by Ms A Taylor, Mrs L Bailey, and Ms L Graham.

Sandy Park Café team up with Three Michelin Star Restaurant, Moor Hall, Aughton

It is with great pleasure that I can announce Sandy Park Café are collaborating with Moor Hall Restaurant with Rooms and its Chef Patron Mark Birchall.
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Moor Hall, which holds three Michelin Stars and five AA rosettes will make regular contributions to Sandy Park Café.  Celebrated chef Mark will also create regular dishes that we will serve at the café – a fantastic accolade from the UK’s number one restaurant. We are very grateful to Mark and all the staff and customers at Moor Hall. ​

Support, Donations and Grants

We would like to thank the many people who have supported and made donations to Sandy Park Café. Initially the Café was set up by the A.J. Bell Trust with the support from Food for Thought, Quinn Barrow Solicitors, Liverpool City Council and the National Lottery Community Fund.  The A.J. Bell Trust have allowed Student Futures to use the building for no cost and contributed the rental income from the two-bedroom flat above the Cafe. To help the Café remain sustainable we have received various donations in particular from James Crombie (Parent) and his friend Craig McAdam, Liverpool Scooter Club (see presentation picture below), Sean Munro from CCC Waste and the customers from Moor Hall Restaurant with Rooms, Aughton.