All Aboard for the Railway Children

This month, Platform teamed up with Into Film for a unique partnership that allowed for free travel to a free screening of The Railway Children Return.

The Into Film Festival is a free, annual, nationwide celebration of Film and Education for 5-19 year olds. It allows schools to book free cinema screenings for a wide choice of films across the UK.

On Friday, November 11^th, the Platform team worked with the Into Film team to deliver two classes of students from Worle Village Primary School to a screening of The Railway Children Return at Cineworld in Weston-super-Mare.

Prior to the trip, Imogen from Platform joined Oli from Into Film at the school to deliver a complimentary workshop that combined Platform’s rail-safety and pre-travel education with an exploration of the history of the railways in film. The fun, interactive workshop was a perfect taster for the main event.

The following day, the Platform team met the students and their teachers at Worle Station and assisted them in travelling to Weston-super-Mare, delivering them safely to the cinema in time for the film.

The whole event was delivered at no cost to the school, thanks to complimentary cinema tickets through the Into Film Festival, and complimentary travel, for rail education purposes, provided by GWR.

Each student was given a special ticket to commemorate the event, and were provided with a free rail safety book – Arlo’s Adventures, written by Bessie Matthews – to take home with them.

Imogen Sackett, Platform’s learning development officer, said: “It has been fantastic to work with The Into Film Festival. Taking young people by train to see The Railway Children Return was a really special occasion, and we hope that this is a partnership that will run for years to come.”

Oliver Loveday, programme delivery coordinator for Into Film, said: “Partnering with Platform has been wonderful. A big part of my work at Into Film is to broaden access to screen culture for young people. So, to be able to offer an exciting cinema experience and rail travel to and from the event, all for free, is fantastic!”

John Feeley, Year 4 teacher from Worle Village Primary School, said: “Absolutely fantastic experience. All staff were organised, prepared and friendly with the children and adults. Perfectly organised and kept to time during both the workshop and when meeting us at the train station too. An absolutely wonderful experience for our learners and a great sigh of relief to work with such a well-prepared group of people!”

Following the success of this pilot, Platform hope that they can collaborate with Into Film in the future, to keep delivering on their vision to make rail education trips meaningful and purposeful whilst building on cultural capital and curriculum links.