With the senior school campus at Austin Cove Baptist College (ACBC) opened in June last year, and the Austin Cove area continuing to grow, the students have been in need of a place to take a break from their studies.
“Last year we asked the students for what they wanted, because they didn’t have a lot, and they said a cafe,” principal Orlando dos Santos said.
“When we came onto the new site, we didn’t know how to do it, we didn’t know if it should be a sea container or what it should be.”
Since then, the cafe plan has been brought to fruition, with the new Boat Shed Cafe officially opened on Friday for lunch.
Along with a full commercial kitchen that will be manned by staff and parents, and a donated coffee machine, the cafe has al fresco decking and several nautical features.
“We’re close to the estuary, so we thought we’d start off with a nautical theme… we’ve got a few old boats, and refurbished them as play areas and places for the kids to sit in while they’re having their lunch,” Mr Dos Santos said.
“We’re hoping it’ll be like a cafe you might find in South Perth or Fremantle, with a nice decking area and that sort of thing... We want to give the kids another experience, so it’s not just a school canteen.”
He said he looked forward to seeing the school’s community and infrastructure continue to grow in the coming years.
