School given much-needed spruce up thanks to Central England Co-operative and its suppliers
Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 27/04/2017
A school which caters for children with special educational needs has been given a spruce up thanks to Central England Co-operative and its suppliers.
The Society has long-standing association with Selly Oak Trust School, in Birmingham, and stepped in after learning that is cookery training facility needed an urgent upgrade.
Teaming with several suppliers who work regularly with the Central England Co-operative property team, a major revamp was undertaken to provide a much-needed boost for the pupils.
This has included a redesigned layout, a raft of state-of-the-art equipment and new decoration.
Harriette Doxey, Property Project Manager, has been leading the work.
She said: “We have been working with Selly Oak Trust School to identify and develop a project that would benefit from the help and skills of our property team.
“Central England Co-operative has adopted a collaborative framework agreement with its property partners that has helped facilitate this project, so much so that they have given up time and materials to such a great cause.
“We have completed the works over two phases, utilising the school holidays so that we have kept the disruption of the classroom to an absolute minimum.
“DarntonB3 Architects worked with us to design a better layout for the room to allow for an improved teaching experience for the children and teachers.
“The transformation has included new ovens, microwaves, new worktops and cupboards.
“The room has been deep cleaned and fully decorated and we have also supplied new seating for the children.
“Central England Co-operative would like to say a big thank you to all the suppliers who have helped make this project possible.”
The firms who have kindly donated time and materials to support this revamp were:
• Architect DarntonB3 Architects
• Main Contractor ABI projects
• Decorators Murray & Willis
• Equipment suppliers Bridgefords, Vale and Kingfisher
• Electrical works firm Carter Group
• Plumbing works firm Oak
• Cleaning firm Five Star Cleaning
Head teacher Chris Field said: “At Selly Oak Trust School we are passionate about creating a learning community that enables our students the aspire, thrive and achieve.
“Thanks to the generous support of Central England Co-operative and their supply partners we now have a world class cookery room with outstanding facilities that will ensure our students can practice the essential skills for life they need to become more independent, resilient learners and also gain valuable qualifications in hospitality and cookery.
“We would like to thank everyone involved in the process and look forward to seeing the students benefitting from such a high quality resource.”
The long-standing connection between Central England Co-operative and Selly Oak Trust School is based around a scheme known as SENse to Aspire.
The project aims to give pupils aged 16-19 the skills they need to find, get and keep a job with both classroom learning and work experience in Central England Co-operative Food Stores.
Notes to editors
Photo caption: Representatives from Central England Co-operative and Selly Oak Trust School cut the ribbon of the revamped cookery training facility.
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. Central England Co-operative has more than 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2017.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility. It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence. The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop
For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth – PR officer - Central England Co-operative - 01543 414140
Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop