STUDENTS at Rigby Hall Special School are opening their own cafe at St Godwald's Church to gain skills and experience to help them find work.

Cafe Magique will open in Finstall Road on Mondays from 12 to 12.30pm, starting October 1, and will see sixth form students taking orders, handling money and waiting on customers.

Teaching assistant Mark Winson said: “The aim of Cafe Magique is to get the kids some work experience in the community.

“It will build their confidence and get them mixing with other people, and also raise some money for other projects at Rigby Hall.

“This is their last year at school so this project will help the students to transition into work after school and get them thinking about and using money.”

Cafe Magique will be selling light lunches, drinks and takeaways. Food ingredients for the cafe will be donated by Bromsgrove Waitrose.

The project has been supported by DRP Group through their community support scheme.