By Karen Bennett, Education and Youth Engagement Advisor, Community Rail Network

The next Community Rail Education Network meeting will be held on Thursday 18 May, 10am-12pm. The session will look at ensuring positive outcomes when contacting schools for engagement.

Following feedback from Karen’s youth engagement survey, some Education Network members expressed an interest in exploring the best ways to get in contact with their local schools. Sometimes emails and letters are sent to schools inviting them to engage with their local community rail partnership, and these can often result in a non-response for many reasons. 

Attending the session will be teachers, school staff, and professionals from organisations such as Prison! Me! No Way, Learn Live, and Datacable, all who contact schools on a regular basis. Tips will be shared and there will be opportunities to discuss the barriers schools are currently facing when engaging with external groups, and how we can overcome these together.

The Education Network is open to anyone with an interest in railway education. If you would like the join the Network and attend the next meeting on Thursday 18 May, please contact Karen Bennett, Education and Youth Engagement Advisor, on karen@communityrail.org.uk.

All notes and recordings from previous meetings are available to view on the Education Network website.