By Sahar Foladi
Students at the Springvale Park Special Developmental School enjoyed the official opening of their mini ‘Woolies’ on the grounds.
The school partnered with Woolworths and Fujitsu to become the 59th mini Woolies as part of a program established in 2018 to support the learning of young Australians with disabilities.
The school opened its doors to the real-life retail experience on Tuesday 23 April as smiling parents watched on.
School principal Jackie Lowther said the school was very excited for the opportunities to come.
“They’ll be able to shop, work on the registers, help stock the shelves and give them the opportunity of real life experiences so they can access Springvale Woolworths for work experience there.”
As a recent roll out, students will be trained to operate the mini Woolies in the coming weeks since the official opening.
General manager enterprise operations of mini Woolies, Sarah Corey says the program across Australia and New Zealand was designed for youth employment with 5600 participants overall.
“We handed over the keys and now it’s up to the school to run and operate their mini Woollies site with the help and support of Woolworths Springvale naturally however the full operations are with the school now.
“It’s a space for students to learn and practise the skills of a retail environment, like counting products, using the registers and communicating with customers.”
The program stimulates the experience of a real life supermarket, the registers are real, Woolies baskets, paper bags, products and produce are all real.
Ms Lowther says students will be able to use the supermarket when heading off to camps and excursions.
“Students will create their own shopping list, shop, and take their produce back to their class rooms,” Ms Lowther said.
