A group of students and staff from The Oaks, specialist college in Tonbridge were invited to attend a rail educational event lead by SCRP’s Education Officer, Maddy Mills . Maddy is a true expert in her role, the group were engaged, educated, enthusiastic, curious, there was also much fun and laughter. Upon leaving the classroom the group were shown around the station, introduced to staff members and then taken on a return trip to Tunbridge Wells station to put all they had learnt into practice. One young man was given the opportunity to make a platform announcement, which I can safely say truly made his day.
Tracy Simmonds, Careers Coordinator one of the staff who accompanied the group said:
‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you for today, we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
The learners have given great verbal feedback’.
So, to sum it up, in Harry’s words. ‘This has been the best day….ever!’
David Atkinson, Tonbridge Station manager said:
It was an absolute pleasure to host you today. I think the staff and I got as much from it as your learners did. Thank you so much for your kind comments (above), it means a lot to us.
A follow on from this exercise in engaging with the community has led to the Oaks students developing a relationship with the station, they are taking over the care of the existing platform planters and have been busily creating a few more. We and the station team are also planning to engage with them further in the future.
The Oaks work towards preparing their students for independent life after leaving education.
