When Mollie Allen first walked into a cafe in Bendigo, she had no idea what to expect.
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Now five weeks later the year 12 student has learnt how to polish cutlery, pluck herbs and, most importantly, make hot chocolates.
Mollie is one of 125 students this year who has been assisted in work place learning at the Bendigo special developmental school through the Goldfield's Local Learning Employment Network program.
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She has spent the last five Thursdays working at the Nude Food Breakfast Bar in the heart of the city where her teacher Kim Jones said she developed some wonderful skills.
"Mollie has been a little superstar and just working beautifully within this very busy working environment," Ms Jones said.
"She has fitted in very, very well and I think Mollie will be a bit sad to be finishing up today."
Mollie said she had enjoyed her time working at the cafe and enjoyed learning the news skills she has acquired.
Ms Jones said as well as the added benefit of the GLLEN program, staff at Nude Food Breakfast Bar were instrumental in Mollie's development.
"Support from the staff within this small business has just been amazing. I can see every week Mollie's skills have just improved dramatically," Ms Jones said.
"You cannot underestimate the growth of these kids. We had a bit of a tough time with COVID," she said.
Cafe owner Hayley Cakebread said she had never participated in a program like this before but would be very keen to do it again in the future.
"It is really hard to put it into words about how we're feeling because for us it was just a no brainer (to take Mollie in)," she said.
"It was an easy decision for us and we are lucky here to have a staff that is so welcoming.
"It's been a win-win for everyone."
Goldfields Local Learning Employment Network program placement manager Martina Austin said the students who had been involved get to select the industry they want to get work experience in.
Ms Austin said Mollie and her fellow classmates had all done incredible jobs during their placements.
"All (the students) are going well, kicking goals," Ms Austin said.
"We have got some amazing businesses that use the GLLEN and can see the benefits of using it."
Ms Austin said she hoped the next batch of students who go out on placement enjoy their stint as much as Mollie had over the past five weeks.
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