Soabar Supports: Leaways School Coffee Labels

One of the things that we absolutely love about working in the print industry is the diversity of our customers and the industries that they’re in. From sandwich labels to the fire-retardant labels sewn onto your aeroplane seat when you’re off on your holidays- Soabar supports so many different companies, their products and functions. 

But sometimes there’s an enquiry that comes through that catches our eye that’s a little bit different to our usual jobs. Last month, we had the pleasure of being able to gift some self-adhesive labels to Leaways School in Clapton, London who have just started up a unique, community-focussed initiative that will positively impact their students.

A School With An Important Difference

Leaways School is a SEHM/SEND (social, emotional and mental health/special educational needs and disabilities) school, that prides itself on providing student with Learning and Education in Alternatives Ways (L.E.A.WAYS). One project that they have just launched in order to achieve this is the ‘Corner Cafe’. Located in their school building, the cafe will not only provide hospitality and barista training to the students, but also allow them to gain extensive work experience in this sector too. 

Working in the cafe will hopefully, in the long term, contribute towards them being able to find work after graduating from Leaways. This is something that can be challenging in today’s  current economic climate- in September 2024 12.3% of all 16-24 year olds (almost 1 million) were not in employment, education or training. Not having the work experience, direction or the confidence necessary to find a job are all barriers; something that the Corner Cafe is working to overcome for their students. 

“It’s given the students pride and ownership”

Hector Smith, one of their staff members, passed on this message to the Soabar team:

“Leaways School is incredibly thankful to Soabar for generously providing us with official branded stickers for the Cafe! This has given the students a real sense of pride and ownership over the space, which is fully operated and managed by them. The Cafe is a training ground for gaining hospitality and barista skills that the students can then transfer into the outside world. The stickers look fantastic and were designed by the students to place on each of our coffee cups to give them a high quality, personalised look.”

Part of our ethos

We love being able to support impactful initiatives like the Corner Cafe, which is an example of how stickers can go a long way to making charitable ventures a success. 

Labels might be a small part of the much bigger picture, but they are in no means insignificant. As the Corner Cafe demonstrates, having branded stickers has contributed to the student’s experience of working there- it has given them pride and ownership over the project and has allowed for the cafe to feel just how one would in the outside world.

We hope that the students flourish and shine as a result of their time at Leaways, and go on to achieve great things.

If you’d like to visit the Corner Cafe if you’re in East London, then the school is located on Theydon Road, E5 9NZ.

If you’d like to find out more about our company, our values and our involvement in the industry then head over to this page.