Our first year barista course
Since SEND’s inception in 2020, our primary objective has been to empower individuals by offering a comprehensive one-year barista course that also equips learners with vital life and work skills. Through a tailored training regimen drawing from the SCA Certification, Competitions score sheets, and insights from seasoned baristas across the UK, our students undergo an immersive learning experience. Our learners work closely with a dedicated mentor on-site every day throughout the academic year, honing not only their technical abilities but also cultivating essential soft skills.
Our ultimate goal is to facilitate a training programme that elevates individuals facing adversities into highly proficient baristas, allowing them to embark on their careers not at an entry level, but as skilled professionals. We aspire for our efforts to underscore the immense value and potential individuals with disabilities possess within the broader coffee industry and hospitality landscape.
The course lasts for 48 weeks and serves as a structured pathway into the workforce. Initially, students receive foundational training in our primary classroom before progressing to our coffee shops, where they work closely with a dedicated mentor.
Our mentors, at both the training sites and learning centre in our headquarters, offer personalised assistance to students, focusing on both life and work skills to provide them with a strong and diverse skillset for future job prospects.
Life Skills
Our Life Skill goals fall into five main categories
Independent Travel
Travel training is focused on teaching the learner to travel independently. This means they are able to make the journey to work from their house alone and, beyond this routine, they are able to choose a place to visit, travel there and get home confidently and safely.
Cooking
Cooking training is focused on teaching the learner how to cook for themselves at home, and plan their diets and meals appropriately for work. They are also expected to be able to cook for others by the end of the course, and understand dietary choices or concepts.
Social Skills
Social training is focused on both how the learner interacts with people and also their hobbies or interests. They should be able to communicate 1:1 with others and with small groups of up to five people, and use social media safely. They should also know what their interests are and understand how to facilitate them independently.
Self Care
Self Care is focused on teaching the learner how to look after themselves, their environment, and their belongings. They should be able to demonstrate washing their clothes themselves, and understand how to clean their homes and personal spaces. They should understand how to look after and maintain their belongings, and make healthy choices in both diet and exercise.
Financial Literacy
Training in financial literacy helps learners learn how to count and use money safely, how to control their bank account independently, and how to make purchases safely. This also incorporates protective lessons on scam avoidance and fraud protection, which learners are particularly vulnerable to.
Work Skills
Our Work Skills goals fall into five main categories
Barista Skills
Leveraging our team’s extensive barista skills, we teach espresso extraction theory, milk steaming, dialing in, coffee menu knowledge and latte art, alongside knowledge and preparation of a range of beverages usually served at coffee shops. After the knowledge and teaching phase, they are introduced to the practical aspect at our three training sites to reinforce their lessons and hone their skills.
Food Safety & Preparation
We teach fundamental food preparation skills such as organising, sanitising and using work spaces to make the food offerings served at our coffee shops. We then progress to understanding and following recipes, knife skills, wastage, allergens and core food safety principles such as stock rotation, cross contamination, food temperature safety and safe service.
Stock Management
Stock management deals with the allocation and rotation of stock in our retail sites, kitchens and service counters. This also includes manual elements of learning safe lifting techniques and responsibilities around keeping our cafes and back of house hazard-free by following correct storage protocols and keeping designated pathways clear at all times.
Customer Service
We help our learners perfect their body language and communication skills to ensure professional conduct at our training sites. This ensures they are ready to enter different work experiences and environments after graduation. Alongside this, we teach our learners about different till systems and how to navigate and decipher customer orders through these applications.
Cleaning
Tasks most people take for granted are much-needed learned skills for our graduates. We ensure our learners have a keen eye for detail in all tasks they undertake, so naturally this extends to our mentors teaching our learners from the ground up proper protocols for cleaning potential hazards and maintaining high standards of hygiene across the training sites used for their education.
After completing the academic year and being signed off on all life skill outcomes, our graduates then proceed onto our second year support scheme.
