Hills District Independent August 2020 #62 August 2020 | Page 29

EDUCATE ME
A great cup of coffee
Norwest Christian College Year 11
Business Studies students have been
remarkably busy planning to open a café
at the college, where the fresh aroma of
coffee will entice the taste buds of parents,
staff and senior students.
Sam from Sam’s Gourmet Café in
Riverstone has generously contributed her
extensive business experience and barista
skills, as an inspiration to Norwest’s
enthusiastic entrepreneurial students.
Mrs Felicity Marlow, Principal of
Norwest Christian College, posed the
challenge to the Year 11 students to
develop a plan for an onsite mobile café.
Mr Andrew Beitsch, Business Studies
teacher, was impressed with the eagerness
of his students to take on the challenge.
“They were very keen because their
learning was active and a real endeavour
to provide an authentic solution to the
needs of the college community.” Me
Beitsch commented.
“I am so thankful for the generosity of
Year 11 Students presenting their café
concept to the panel and their peers.
the local business community, who are
helping us create an enduring experience
of how a café should operate and look”.
The culmination of weeks of planning,
surveying and consultation resulted in
three groups of students presenting their
collaborative endeavours in front of a
panel and their peers.
“Each presentation was exceptional
in terms of attention to detail, yet what
was most significant to me was listening
to students describe the way in which
the project had stimulated deep and
transformational learning.” Mrs Marlow
explained.
One student, Kai, said, “It was a
real project, there were limitations, we
couldn’t have ‘crazy’ ideas, our budget
needed to be realistic; this was authentic
learning.”
Another student, Thomas, said it was
the reality of the experience which led to
deep learning.
“This was more than schoolwork. This
was a real business. There was so much
incentive to research carefully and ‘get it
right’ and produce a business plan which
would work”.
“This was more than an assessment
task,” said Mia, another team member,
“this was vision to actual reality.”
Kai, Thomas and Mia enjoyed working
in groups and commented on the
commitment of their peers.
“We had to handle the pressure
because there was a genuine outcome.
There was a bit of stress because we had
Mr Beitsch and his Year 11 Business Studies class.
to produce an actual plan.” Mia said.
Kai thought, “this must be what
Australian businesspeople experience.”
Thomas said they were pushed to the
boundaries of what they could do, learnt
a lot about our personal resilience and
came away with an intense understanding
of being an entrepreneur and creating a
business.
The Year 11 students all agreed that
“learning is fun!”
The Norwest Café project is the most
recent way the college has developed
positive links with local business, many
coming about through its membership of
three business organisations, especially
the Riverstone and Schofields Chamber of
Commerce. Sam from Sam’s Gourmet Café
was impressed with the students.
“They asked great questions, thought
clearly, were open to suggestions and had
such a positive attitude to learning and
school,” Sam said.
The college looks forward to
developing more opportunities, like this
one, for all students, by engaging them
with our local business communities and
apply their learning to real life outcomes.
Enquiries: Craig Laffin, Director of
Development Norwest Christian College,
Riverstone. Email Craig at claffin@nwcc.
edu.nsw.au
THE HILLS INDEPENDENT www.hdinews.com.au ISSUE 62 // AUGUST 2020 29