Yahoo News Blyth school's converted train featured on George Clarke's Amazing Spaces wins Love Northumberland award
A Blyth school's converted train which featured in an episode of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces last year has won an award.
The carriage, repurposed for children with special educational needs has won a Love Northumberland award for Best Community Response to Climate Change, and has been honoured by the Duchess of Northumberland as a result.
This endeavour is supported by Northern Rail and the Northumberland Line, and it encourages children to use public transport as a greener alternative to cars, using train travel on school trips and recycling as a way to help families in poverty.
The Dales School's project uses an old Northern Rail class 144 Pacer train, which is located on the school grounds, and it has now been repurposed for a different use. Railway company Porterbrook donated the train to the school and supported with its transformation throughout the project.
Sally Collins, the deputy head teacher at The Dale's School, said: "We are so proud of our project and our award-winning pacer train. The train has transformed reading for enjoyment in our school and has helped so many of our children to learn how to travel on public transport."
The train project was highlighted by OFSTED during the Outstanding inspection in January of this year, and it is also part of the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility. Through the train, The Dales school works with Children with special educational needs who may struggle to use public transport, teaching them practical life skills.
The children learn how to buy train tickets at the ticket office, use the rail safety waiting room, read children's books about staying safe on the railway and to learn what railway warning signs mean. They learn how to be safe on the station itself, and they also get to practice boarding a train.
The students are able to role play travelling on a train which is fully interactive, using a simulator in the train's cab and virtual reality technology in the carriage. They learn to understand what sensory elements they will experience on a train, which in turn helps them not to panic if the train stops.
The children will then go and travel on a real train to put their new skills into practice, as project partners Northern Rail and TransPennine Express work together with the school to give students a real-life experience on a train. This is also useful as it helps with the understanding of how to travel, and supports children who struggle with sensory stimuli, as they learn how to self-regulate when at a busy station and on a real train.
