THE FIRST railway-based vocational qualification in the UK has been launched at a school in Wythall.
The Friends of the Shakespeare Line (FoSL) are a group of 80 volunteers who help to upgrade every railway station on the Shakespeare Line between Birmingham and Stratford.
The group have worked together with Woodrush High School to facilitate a railway-based City & Guilds vocational qualification.
Woodrush High School arranged for a group across their Years 7-13 students to be enlisted by West Midlands Railway as station volunteers to landscape the grounds and display student artwork at nearby Wythall railway station.
Lord Digby Jones Patron of FoSL praised the volunteers.
He said: “I am passionate about young people having every chance and opportunity to make a decent life for themselves.
“That’s why I strongly support any means that enable modern apprenticeships, vocational training and qualification for those students that do not wish to pursue wholly academic or university studies.
“I am reliably informed that there will likely be more exciting developments for students and the railway in the forthcoming year too, so I look forward to learning about that.”
The praise came as the volunteer group’s Annual Report for 2022 was published, that set out a number of achievements.
Bringing some twenty communities together between Stratford and the heart of Birmingham, Friends of the Shakespeare Line help install planters and arts displays on the platform areas and develop a green corridor all the way down the line at the 22 stations involved.
Jay Barber, Headteacher at Woodrush High School said: “The train station project has been a jewel in the crown for Woodrush’s community curriculum over the past year.
“It is a rare thing to have enriching out-of-school learning opportunities for students outside of health or early years education settings.
“The partnership between The Friends of the Shakespeare Line, West Midlands Trains and Woodrush High School has forged an innovative collaborative that is making a real difference to local people and is inspiring and empowering our young people to be proud, active and enterprising stakeholders in their local railway.”
