Rail Safety, Confidence, and Behaviour

This workshop has been carefully created to ensure children learn the most important safety messages about the railways, whilst also gaining confidence to travel by train.

Designed to educate – not to frighten or shock – we explore the dangers of the railway alongside the solutions for staying safe, with plenty of focus on what, and who, can help us when travelling by train.

We strive to make our learning “sticky” through engaging and interactive approaches, including a knowledge grab, at the beginning and end, through QR coding technology.

With plenty of opportunity to discuss; make decisions; actively participate; engage with visual props; and get dressed up, this workshop delivers skills and knowledge that are important for life.

Students will learn:

• safety considerations for travelling by train, including content about electrification and level crossings
• bespoke support to help overcome barriers to accessing the railway
• considerations for appropriate behaviour on trains and at stations

This workshop can be condensed and delivered as a whole-school assembly. Contact us to find out more.

Who is this workshop for?

All our workshops are bespoke for each setting and can be adapted for ages 4 to 18, and for students with additional needs.

Completing this workshop is a requirement for any class who is planning to travel with us on one of our free train trips.

How long does this workshop last?

We recommend 60-90 minutes for this workshop.

For the youngest students we can reduce this to 45 minutes.

What are teachers saying about our workshops?

“Children stopped me in the corridor to say how much fun they’d had!
The children loved it, especially the dressing up and loved sharing their ideas.”

Hilary Fisher, Manor Fields Primary School

Careers in the Rail Industry

Did you know you could be a chef in the rail industry? Or a teacher? The rail industry has over 500 different types of job available and we explore some of these in detail in our specialist careers workshop.

Depending on age, students will learn:

• how the rail industry offers a wide range, and variation of, career paths – at the station, on the train and around the railway
• key career terminology such as salaries, pensions, skills, qualifications and more
• the concept of personal strengths (skills and attributes) and the part these play in being effective at your job
• some of the pathways available to someone interested in a career in the rail industry, such as apprenticeships
• how the railway can be a gateway to other career, education, or training opportunities
• key rail safety messages

This workshop has been carefully created to promote inclusion, challenge stereotypes, and broaden aspirations.

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop can be adapted for all ages and SEND. We have designed age-appropriate sessions for Early Years through to KS5.

For more detailed descriptions of the offer for different age groups, click here.

How long does this workshop last?

We recommend 90 minutes for this workshop (60 minutes for EYFS and KS1).

We are also happy to attend career fairs and events. Contact us to find out more.

What are teachers saying about our workshops?

“An informative and engaging workshop. The students were keen to give answers and ask questions. They were particularly keen on dressing up and acting out job roles. It was really interesting to hear the students consider and rate their own skills and strengths and how this was then linked to various job roles.” – Jenny Salmon, Somerset Careers Hub

“We loved Platform’s visit! The children learnt lots from the workshops. We felt that Ellie pitched the workshops perfectly for the different year groups across the school and used a variety of different ways to engage the children including role play and quizzes.” – Nicola Willmott, St Joseph & St Teresa Catholic Primary School

“Emilie and Imogen were fabulous. The session was pitched at the right level for students.” – Becky Williams, Pershore College

Sustainable and Healthy Travel

We are all taking steps to look after our planet – and ourselves – but how does the way we get from one place to another tie into this?

Designed to empower students through choice – rather than guilt – our sustainable and healthy travel workshop explores the range of options available for travel and uses real-life journey examples to understand the concept of a carbon footprint.

Students will learn:

• the correlation between healthy travel for us as individuals, and healthy travel for the planet
• key vocabulary such as pollution, congestion, carbon, emissions and much more
• to understand choice and to explore the difference between the choices they have for travel now, and those they may have as they get older.

This workshop can be condensed and delivered as a whole-school assembly. Contact us to find out more.

Who is this workshop for?

All our workshops are bespoke for each setting and can be adapted for ages 4-18, and for students with additional needs but this workshop is most appropriate for KS2+

This workshop ties in with many of the key messages from the Government’s guide to sustainability in education.

How long does this workshop last?

We recommend 60-90 minutes for this workshop.

What are teachers saying about our workshops?

“Brilliant, interactive workshop. The boys loved the QR code software to answer questions. They were really engaged.”

Anne Marie Glover, Riversides School

Travel Planning

We want young people to make healthier travel choices, and see public transport as a gateway to future life, but some find it more difficult than others.

Designed to highlight different stages of travel planning – and those stages that may be more of a barrier to some young people – this workshop takes future travellers through every stage of a journey and explores the tools that are there to support each stage. Students are encouraged to be active in the workshop and our travel planning workshop can be followed up with a real, free train trip in order to put the learning into practice.

Students will learn:

• the different ways they can purchase a ticket, as well as understanding the ticket after purchase
• how to utilise departure boards and other information tools at stations
• what to do when something doesn’t go to plan (explored via social stories)
• how to be safe when using public transport and what to do if you don’t feel safe

Who is this workshop for?

All our workshops are bespoke for each setting and can be adapted but this workshop works especially well for young people who have anxieties about travelling. It can help to overcome both real, and perceived, barriers to accessing public transport.

It is also ideal as preparation for children who may be planning to use the train to travel to secondary school or to access further education.

How long does this workshop last?

We recommend 60-90 minutes for this workshop.

What are teachers saying about our workshops?

“Really great fun and pitched perfectly for our pupils needs”

Emma Nolan, Chadsgrove Special School

Terrific Time Travel

Sometimes, we have to look back before we can look forward and this concept underpins this transport design workshop. Students will explore the history of transport by creating a transport timeline, thinking about how the way we move about has changed over hundreds of years.

They are encouraged to become mini designers by getting crafty and coming up with a transport invention for the future, drawing on their understanding of sustainability and passenger experience to make it as innovative as possible.

Students will learn:

• how transport has changed since the earliest forms of transport to modern day technology
• the concept of sustainable and healthy travel
• how modern day solutions are being created to tackle climate change
• how different modes of transport have developed for the better – or worse over time

Who is this workshop for?

All our workshops are bespoke for each setting and can be adapted but this workshop works especially well with KS2 students.

How long does this workshop last?

We recommend 90 minutes for this workshop.

What are teachers saying about our workshops?

“Thank you – pitched at the right level and the children were engaged.”

Sara Kemp, Pewsey Primary School

County Lines

Students will understand how gangs target people; the disparity between the expectations and reality of being in a gang; and ways to overcome barriers to helping, and being helped.

OVERVIEW

This workshop is built around a powerful, short film, ‘Which Side of the Tracks’, that explores one young person’s story of being targeted, on the railways, by a County Lines gang. The film explores Lauren’s growing isolation and vulnerabilities, and draws attention to the opportunities other people had to help her.

After watching the film, the rest of the workshop is split into three 20-minute sessions:

Session 1 explores how gang-members target and groom young people, and some of the factors that can make a person more vulnerable to exploitation.

Session 2 explores the gulf between expectations and reality for young people who find themselves targeted.

Session 3 explores the danger of becoming isolated, and the barriers that stop young people from getting help, outlining how most of these barriers are perceived, not reality.

Click here to access the film.