Super skills learnt in mini store

THE Mini Woolworths initiative debuted in Victorian schools last week, seeing classrooms transformed into supermarket simulations.

Ballarat Specialist School was one of the first to take part in the hands-on learning experience, with students getting involved as either Ballarat Fresh Food store staff, or shoppers.

Principal Sam Sheppard said the program’s aim is to give students a practical way of developing a broad range of skills.

“For our younger students this will essentially train them to go to the supermarket right up to our older students who are working the register and learning those functional skills,” he said.

“That means cash-handling, social skills, eye-contact, stocking shelves, even the process of scanning through and checkout etiquette.

“All that is driving towards those opportunities for when they leave school and start their employment.”

Six students took part in training for the program the Tuesday before the Thursday launch, including Nicholas Speirs, who said he felt more confident in navigating a supermarket environment.

“I’ve done things like serve people, put stuff away for people, taken money back and put baskets away,” he said.

“It’s been a good experience. We’ve learned how to work the registers, log in and scan stuff. It’s really helped with my social skills and numbers.”

With two live registers and walls lined with shelving, Christian Bennett, chief reputation officer at Woolworths, said the school shop is true-to-life.

“All the products are real. They’re exactly the same as we’d have in the store. The technology is precisely the Fujitsu technology we have,” he said.

“It really is a mini Woolies. It brings the scale of the supermarket and replicates it in an environment where it’s at home for the students, calming and engaging.”

Following BSS campus upgrades, the Mini Woolworths will relocate to a permanent facility for public access.

A result of a partnership between Woolworths and Fujitsu, the initiative has been introduced to 24 schools across the country in the last four years.