With the delicious smell of freshly made brownies and sausage rolls wafting through the kitchen air, it’s hard not to be taken by the enthusiasm these hospitality students have as they eagerly prepare for opening time.

Every Friday morning a long line of customers queue at the Darwin special needs school for brunch at their hidden gem of a cafe.

In just half an hour, the students can take up to more than 70 orders, serving out barista quality coffees and freshly made treats.

Senior teacher Lauren Hofmeyer, who oversees the transition and pathways programs at the school, said they have been running the café for over five years now, starting from humble beginnings at the old Henbury School site.

She said the café helps senior students interested in hospitality to develop skills as a part of the school’s Transition to Work initiative.

“The whole café is run by a group of about 13 students who’ve done barista or bakery skill sets and have certificates in hospitality,” she said.

“They cook all of the food from scratch including sausage rolls, banana bread, brownies, quiches, pizzas and salad wraps.

“This cafe is such a confidence booster for our kids — from beginning to end — it’s just incredible.

“You can really see the growth in students from the beginning of the year in their dealings with customers and their independence with the different tasks in the café.

“The café is about showing the community just how capable our students are as well as providing them with real world experiences that will stand them in good stead for employment post-school.

“The thing is, all of our students want to be included in meaningful ways in our society, and what we do here is a really holistic approach to education, and providing every opportunity for students to participate in the community,” she said.

“It’s also important for us to increase awareness in the community about what we do, and about our wonderful students.”

Cafe cashier Jeremy Dosantos McNeven, 15, said he had been working with the “coffee crew” as he likes to call them, for about two years.

He said the experience he gained in there helped him land his first job as a waiter at KJS Entertainment.

“I loved that place as a kid and I knew I always wanted to work there,” he said.

“I explained to the boss about the jobs I do at the school cafe and she really liked it, so she gave me a chance.

“My role was more like a waiter, so I’d go up there, pick up everyone’s cups and bowls.

“I’d make sure the tables and the playground was clean and bring out the people’s foods.

“My work mates, they were just so funny. Yeah, I just liked it there. It was sort of ‘me’.”

One of the cafe’s newest servers Kimberly Taylor, 16, said even though she was still getting the hang of things, she knew she wanted to work in hospitality too.

“I feel good working, my favourite thing to make in here are the salad wraps,” she said.

“It can get really busy sometimes but we have special order cards at the register, so if I forget something I can check the card and then I remember.”

Ms Hofmeyer said in addition to the café senior hospitality students were also given the opportunity to earn some money during weekend events with their coffee trailer called Crewz’n Brew.

She said hospitality was only one part of the school’s Transition to Work initiative.

“We have a range of Skills Set programs for our middle year students (years 7-9) including hairdressing, retail, bike maintenance, horticulture, wood work, information technology, recycling and textiles,” she said.

“It gives students an opportunity to find what they’re interested in so we can help them train and find work pathways outside of the school during their senior years of schooling.”

Just around the corner from the café inside Henbury’s school grounds, sits a workshop where students learn how to make items from wood, fabric and other materials.

“We call this our Sense-ational Designs area,” Ms Hofmeyer said.

“We’ve got a full screen printing set up in there and we also have a variety of sewing machines and overlockers.”

“Students make anything from bottle holders to pencil cases, to tea towels, to T-shirts.

“We also have our woodwork space where students have been making cheese boards, platters and all of those sorts of things that are really kind of in vogue at the moment.”

Many of these student-made creations are now available for purchase at the school’s new work training site located on Aralia Street at Nightcliff, aptly called Henbury on Aralia.

“This space boast café, garden and giftware, run for and by the students,” Ms Hofmeyer said.

“Students will be have opportunities to use their hospitality skills developed at the school based café and there will also be opportunities for students to practice retail, horticulture, hospitality and construction skills. Students were also involved in fitting out the space.

“Henbury on Aralia is an extension of the amazing work that is already happening on site at Henbury School and a space for student made wares to be accessible to the general public.”

“And then the funds from that will go directly back into keeping the programs running.”