The VM Brew House Café at Myrtleford P-12 College held a community open morning on Friday, 19 September, welcoming students, teachers and family members with an array of tasty treats and beverages.

In the school's canteen over the past term, students have trained with industry professionals to refine their coffee-making, hospitality and customer service skills and worked together to set up and run the school café.

A variety of coffees, slices, cakes, cupcakes and chocolate crackles were on offer to the eager lines of customers leading out the door.

"The café is a student-led enterprise and I couldn’t be more proud of them," teacher Shani Russo said.

"The community open morning was chance to see the café in action, allow guests to enjoy a coffee made by the VCE vocational major (VM) students and celebrate the hard work they’ve put into the project.

"As part of their personal development skills program and the community and work-related skills projects, students identified a need in our community and chose barista skills to work on.

“Some students have had trouble with attendance, but with these projects they’re arriving early, getting everything set up before school and so on.

"Sixpence Coffee helped us arrange the coffee machine and did a training course with us.

"The students also completed their food handling and safety certificates.

"I think the best part of the VMs is they’re all about real-world skills and this café encompasses all of that."

Tegan Brown said the morning went really well.

"We’ve got a proper coffee-machine, it’s like a pressure cooker," she said.

"We’re proud of what we’ve done so far to make this happen."

Dakoda Fabris Dempsey said the best part of the café is having a bit of a laugh, having fun, making sweet treats and putting a smile on the teachers’ and students’ faces.

"The most challenging aspect was keeping up with the orders during peak hour," she said.

"The coffee machine has to reset at eight degrees of pressure, which sometimes takes about five minutes."

Lachlan Boyd agreed and said the group had overcome a number of struggles with the coffee machine.

"The basics probably took us about two or three hours to learn," he said.

"Everyone had a go and experimented; we've been making heaps of different coffees and foods."

The Brew House Café is open Mondays to Fridays, but also whenever the school hosts events such as Book Week or Fathers’ Day morning teas.