Next Stop…The Beach!

South Wessex Community Rail Partnership have officially joined Platform.

To celebrate, the team took Year 1 students from Studley Green Primary School on a train-trip to Wonderful Weymouth.

Ahead of travel, the students were visited by Florence, from the Platform team, who delivered a free in-school workshop on all things rail safety and confidence, ensuring students were fully prepared for their trip.

On the travel day, the students were met at Trowbridge Station by Emilie from the Platform team, and Sophie from TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. There, they were able to demonstrate how much they had learned in their workshop – pointing out (and staying behind) the yellow line, recalling train speeds and stopping distances, and spotting the orange line when a train pulled in.

Soon, it was all aboard the GWR train to Weymouth, where students found a seat, got comfortable, and set off  on their way. It was a long journey, but with the beautiful views of the Somerset and Dorset countryside, the students were well entertained, aided by some Platform activity booklets handed out along the way.

Whilst grey drizzle loomed over the rest of the South-West, a glorious patch of sunshine sat over Weymouth and, after departing the train, the group were soon walking beneath blue skies to Weymouth seafront. There was a quick walk up to the sand-sculpture to see the special piece being created for the coronation, before the group headed down to the sand for a day on the beach.

For some students, this was their first visit to the beach,  so there was much excitement as their toes hit the sand (and, later, the water). Buckets and spades distributed and shoes discarded, it was hours of joy for the students. Weymouth was their term 5 topic in school and, whilst having fun, they also took opportunities to identify differences between Weymouth and Trowbridge, and to spot examples of Human and Physical Geography.

A visit to the beach wouldn’t be complete without an ice-cream, so the Platform team ended the visit by purchasing a Mr.Whippy for everyone before heading back to the train for the return journey.

It had been anticipated that students may have a sleep on the way back but the excitement of being given copies of Arlo’s Adventures by Bessie Matthews meant that most students were wide awake and delving into their books for most of the return journey (the sugar from the ice-creams may or may not have contributed). As a result, it was a group of tired, excited – and very sandy – students who were returned to Trowbridge station to say goodbye and end the day.

Charlotte Broadhead, Year 1 teacher from Studley Green school, said, “I want to say a massive thank you firstly to Emilie for her fantastic communication throughout, to Florence for her rail safety workshop she delivered in school which was engaging and well planned for the needs of our children.

And again to Emilie and Sophie who supported us on our trip to Weymouth beach. They made the trip feel calm, organised and purposeful. The children had the most fantastic time and have had a very memorable experience all thanks to Platform.

From a teachers’ point of view, all of the planning, resources, itinerary, risk assessment and running of the trip was so organised and seem less I felt completely at ease and it was a stress free day. Thank you again; will definitely be recommending Platform to my colleagues at school and other schools.”

Emilie Dawson, Platform’s Learning Development Manager, said, “It is so exciting to be a part of South-Wessex CRP. The extension in our scheme means we can offer schools more destinations, expand our resource offer, and – ultimately – deliver rail-education to more young people, across more areas.

Our trip down to Weymouth to launch this expansion was a wonderful day and we were thrilled to get the students down there by train, meaning they could experience a more sustainable and healthy travel choice. The class were a joy to work with, and so were the staff.

As always, our thanks go to GWR for providing free travel for rail-education, and to our funding partners for allowing us to offer delivery at no cost.”