HINDHEAD based Cookie Bar has served up a bumper donation of almost £3,000 for neighbouring Stepping Stones School.

The Cookie Bar was founded by the Coins charitable foundation as a social enterprise outlet to provide valuable work experience in a forgiving environment for Stepping Stones students, including those with disabilities.

Working in the Cookie Bar helps to increase their skills and confidence – and half the profits from the Cookie Bar support Stepping Stones School. The other half supports Coins work internationally.

Students can also gain valuable experience working on the Cookie bar Bus, a distinctive red 1963 Routemaster double decker purchased in 2015 by Coins with the help of a successful Crowdfunding appeal.

The bus visits festivals, fetes and other events, serving speciality coffees, teas, cold drinks, cookies, cakes and snacks.

Cookie Bar and Bus events manager Alison Johnson, whose son was a student at Stepping Stones and who started working at the social enterprise outlet in 2011, said: “When you visit the Cookie Bar or buy their cookies online, you are helping to fund our projects.

“They were set up to support the students from Stepping Stones School, a school for children with special educational needs, to create a forgiving work and learning environment.

“Students are offered work placements at the Cookie Bar and on the Cookie Bus as part of their curriculum, allowing them to develop their social skills and to gain experience in a working environment.

“Profits from these social enterprises are returned to the school. Volunteers make an essential contribution to the Cookie Bar in two ways. Firstly, it enables parents and local people to contribute and secondly, it reduces the break even point of trading, so more funds can return to the school.”

Internationally, Coins provides vital support for The Kailash Home for orphaned and deprived children supported by the Himalayan Youth Foundation.