Just like a well-rounded educational offering, there’s both art and science in the high school student-run Rural Café at the Royal Easter Show.

Now in its fifth year at The Sydney Showgrounds, the café serves hundreds of customers each day of The Show, with NSW Department of Education Secretary Murat Dizdar a special guest on Friday before operations got into full swing.

Students from 17 schools around the state get to finetune their kitchen and customer service skills working in the cafe, preparing, learning how to cook and ultimately serving-up a special tasting plate to hungry Show-goers.

The high-tea style offering sounds simple enough: chicken sandwich, sausage roll, vegetarian quiche, pavlova and chocolate brownie – but with the help of food technologist Lisa Purser (Kempsey High School) and Indigenous chef Jo-Ann Leigh – it’s also became a celebration of local ingredients.

Bush tomato, native thyme and lemon myrtle are all used.

Monday 14 April was Senior’s Day, traditionally a busy day at the Show. Students in the Rural Students Café served 67 coffees an hour for six hours and 50 slushies over the day, as well as the delicious tasting plates.

Caitlin Marotte, a Year 12 Hospitality student from Hastings Secondary College Westport Campus, said the customer feedback was “it was a really lovely café, so happy and joyful”.

“It’s giving me the opportunity to do real work in a café, meet new people and get some of my work placement hours up,” Caitlin said.

Classmate Bree Winn said she loved working in the busy café.

“I really like being on my feet, taking orders, helping everyone in the team. And I’ve learnt to make slushies and mocktails.”

The native theme became a new staple from 2024 and this year Bathurst-based VET Curriculum Support Advisor Philippa Mortimer said the cafe offerings include a little slice of the city.

“We were so busy last year we got some metro kids to come during the day this year, particularly helping out the back of house with cooking,” she said.

Joining the rural and regional schools (listed below) are Crestwood High School, Ingleburn High School, Chifley College Bidwell Campus and Doonside High School.

For all students, the work experience contributes to their Certificate II in Hospitality or Certificate II Cookery.

“If you are from a small regional town, there might only be one café near them,” Ms Mortimer said.

“And if you’ve got 16 kids and they’ve got to do 70 hours’ worth of work placement, they can get 24 hours of work placement here knocked off in three days. It works out so well.”

For Year 11 Goulburn High School student Lillian Bridgford, the cafe experience was a great opportunity to get hands on with hospitality.

“I enjoy the subject at school. There’s some crossover with my (part-time) job, the cleaning the work health and safety side of things,” she said.

“Today I went from plating the food up to serving. I’ve done food preparation as well.”

While the main goal for the Rural Café is work placement, there’s a secondary benefit with profits made from the 12 days going back to the schools involved.

Public schools running the Rural Students Café:

• Barraba Central School
• Chifley College Bidwill Campus
• Crestwood High School
• Doonside Technology High School
• Goulburn High School
• Gundagai High School
• Gunnedah High School
• Hasting Secondary College – Westport Campus
• Hunter Sports High School
• Ingleburn High School
• Kandos High School
• Macintyre High School
• Mosman High School
• Muirfield High School
• Northlakes High School
• Wauchope High School
• Whitebridge High School