A Kent special needs school’s unique plans to transform a train carriage into a café have moved forward thanks to backing from Costa Coffee and other businesses.

The innovative facility, at Five Acre Wood in Loose, near Maidstone, will be a place where pupils with learning difficulties can prepare and serve affordable drinks to parents, visitors and the local community.

It hopes to give youngsters training in the hospitality sector, and skills which could help them go on to find employment in the industry.

Head teacher Tim Williams says the scheme has been “inundated with a lot of offers of support.”

Three cranes will be required to hoist the British Rail carriage into position at the Boughton Lane site on August 10 after planning permission was granted last month.

Named the FAWrient express – after the school’s acronym – the training café could “serve as a blueprint for change across the UK and beyond,” Mr Williams hopes.

He explained residents and businesses have come forward offering to assist with the venture.

He said: “It might be the generosity of people’s time, saying they want to volunteer their time to support this project.

“It might be tradespeople that are in the timber, building, plumbing, boiler, and landscaping industries, but equally we’ve had support that’s been offered from people who are graphic designers who’ve offered to help us make menus and posters and so on.

“So it's really varied, we’re capturing it on a database. We’ve been inundated with so many offers.”

The school was in touch with Costa about the plans, which has agreed to provide coffee beans and machines to use in the café.

Tech firm Panasonic has also been in touch, offering to install two air conditioning units in the carriage free of charge.

Experienced hospitality trainers have also come forward to help train students.

“It’s just incredible the diversity of support, we’ve been blown away by it,” Mr Williams added.

Spray painters and specialists in vehicle wrapping – used to doing custom wraps for double-decker buses and jets – have offered their help too.

“We’re having conversations with them around wrapping it and giving it an amazing facelift on the exterior,” Mr Williams said.

However, he stressed they still need support and are open to offers of help.

He said: “I think it’s really caught the attention of our community and beyond and genuinely I believe that this project has the scope to transform lives.”

John English, charity and community manager at Costa Coffee, said: “As part of our commitment to supporting the local communities we operate within, Costa Coffee are thrilled to be working with Five Acre Wood to transform a train carriage into a community café.

“We are working closely with our suppliers to support the project by providing a coffee machine and equipment, as well as coffee beans, for the café to operate.

“We can’t wait to see the renovated café come to life, and look forward to continuing to support this project going forwards.”

The school, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, has 807 children on its roll and caters for pupils with moderate, severe, profound or complex learning difficulties and autism.