The Ponds Fresh Food: The Ponds School opens Mini Woolies for students with specific needs

A new supermarket has opened up in The Hills — but this one has a special mission. Find out what this innovative idea is all about.

A mini Woolies has just opened for business at a northwest Sydney school — but this supermarket has a special mission.

It’s all about supporting the education of students with an intellectual disability or developmental delay by providing hands-on learning experiences.

This mini Woolies, called ‘The Ponds Fresh Food’, is at The Ponds School, a school which educates more than 100 students from kindergarten to Year 12 with intellectual disabilities.

The store has been designed to mimic the operations of an actual Woolworths supermarket, with baskets for fresh food, shelving for groceries, ticketing, signage and Woolworths branded uniforms the students can wear.

The students will also use fully operational Fujitsu registers to scan groceries and money as they learn key skills about money handling and process sales.

Students from kindergarten to Year 12 will be able to access the store. Picture: Dallas Kilponen.

The store has been designed to mimic the operations of an actual Woolworths store. Picture: Dallas Kilponen

The Ponds School principal Leonie Donaldson said this was an exciting opportunity which would help students learn key life skills.

“The establishment of a mini Woolworths on school premises will open the doors for a multifaceted approach to address individualised learning goals right from early years to high school,” Ms Donaldson said.

Picture: Dallas Kilponen

“It will provide a platform for students to engage in meaningful and real-life experiences in the same setting and context, right from handling money to getting organised and gaining and improving essential life skills.”

Woolworths Group technology director Bernadette King said she was proud and humbled to be part of this project.

“We’re really proud of our new mini supermarket at The Ponds School and the opportunities it will create for students,” she said

“The skills students will learn in their new mini Woolworths supermarket will equip them with confidence and knowledge of retail operations in an exciting way, with an upfront understanding and familiarity when they enter the workforce.”

Students at the opening of The Ponds Fresh Food. Picture: Dallas Kilponen.

The opening of The Ponds Fresh Food comes in the wake of several other successful mini Woolies.

“Having seen the success of our previous mini Woolworths stores with students employed as Woolworths team members, we look forward to seeing how the students gain independence and the skills from The Ponds Fresh Food,” Ms King said.

The Ponds’ new mini Woolies is the eighth mini supermarket of its kind, with similar Woolworths created for Mater Dei School, St Edmund’s School and William Rose School.