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Thursday 27 Oct 2011

SCHOOL CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT BIRMINGHAM GATEWAY

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Birmingham Gateway has launched its first ever schools engagement programme this week, aimed to engage and inspire young people in the city about the redevelopment of New Street station.

To mark the start of the programme 60 pupils from St Thomas’ Primary School have visited the station to find out more about the redevelopment and how they will benefit when work is completed in 2015.

After an interactive workshop with the project’s health and safety manager and a British Transport Police officer, the children took a London Midland train to Birmingham International station. Here they were met by the Virgin Trains station manager and had the opportunity to explore the airport and learn about the further opportunities for travel available from their home city.

Darren Cobb, Network Rail’s health and safety manager on the Birmingham Gateway project, said: “The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street will transform the station and provide a better experience for many generations of passengers. It was a great experience to meet with and work with the children from St Thomas’ Primary School and I am sure many of them will benefit from the improvements to their station.”

Carol Gibson, deputy headteacher at St Thomas’ said: “We have been delighted to have the opportunity to work with Network Rail and engage our children in such a significant project for Birmingham - one that our pupils will enjoy for years to come. The staff on the Gateway project have welcomed us so warmly on our visits and the children haven’t stopped talking about their experience."

The children will now write a poem or create a piece of artwork about their visit and the winning entries will be displayed around the station later this year.