Platform is a rail education scheme that works with schools to empower young people in accessing the railways.
Through workshops, train-trips, and bespoke, local resources, Platform helps teachers to build their students’ knowledge of rail-safety, their understanding of sustainable and healthy travel, and their confidence in using trains.
Platform supports schools in building cultural-capital with out-of-classroom experiences; helps schools to embed sustainable learning into their curriculum; and promotes access to future opportunities available to young people through train travel.
Community Rail
Community rail is a growing grassroots movement made up of community rail partnerships and groups across Britain. They engage communities and help people get the most from their railways, promoting social inclusion and sustainable travel, working alongside train operators to bring about improvements, and bringing stations back to life.
There are four plliars which underpin the work of community rail partnerships across the country:
- providing a voice for the community;
- promoting sustainable, healthy and accessible travel;
- bringing communities together and supporting diversity and inclusion;
- supporting social and economic development.
A Joint Education Scheme
In 2021, representatives from Severnside, Gloucestershire, TransWilts, and Worcestershire Community Rail Partnerships joined together with a shared vision of developing an education offer, across their areas, that would successfully support schools in their engagement with the rail industry. They had a collective goal of creating a team who could deliver in-school workshops, encourage schools to use the railway, and create bespoke, rail-related resources that linked tightly to the curriculum.
From Concept to Concrete
With funding and support from GWR, Cross Country, and The Community Rail Network, the four CRPs were delighted to be able to move their joint education scheme from an idea to a reality. A steering group was formed and, with the assistance and guidance of Bristol-based educational consultants Sustainable Hive, the group set out to hire a team that could bring their vision for rail-education across their areas to life. In January 2022, the joint education scheme team – which includes qualified teachers -was formed.
What’s in a Name?
We are Platform. A platform, at base level, is a place you go and stand when you’re waiting for a train. When you stand on that platform, you’re at the start of a journey, waiting for adventure and excitement to begin.
But a platform is more. A platform is a raised structure from which people can reach something previously unobtainable; the Platform team want to reach out to young people, for whom rail travel has too many barriers, and help them access the rails.
We want our online platform to facilitate interaction between teachers and the rail industry.
Metaphorically, we use the idiom “Giving someone a platform” when we want to talk about giving someone a voice, or a place from which they can share ideas and communicate with others; giving someone a platform means giving them an opportunity to connect and to be empowered.
We are Platform. A physical platform at a station, an online platform, a metaphorical platform – we are here to build connections, to support access to opportunity, and to empower the young people in the communities we serve.
