Primary school Student Engagement Programme

Tender description

1 Background information 1.1 High Speed Two (HS2) is the Government’s proposal for a new, high speed, north-south railway. The proposal is being taken forward in two phases: Phase One will connect London with Birmingham and the West Midlands, and Phase Two will extend the route to Manchester, Leeds and beyond. 1.2 HS2 Ltd is the non-departmental public body responsible for developing and promoting this proposal. 1.3 The Education Programme is an integral element of HS2 Ltd’s broader approach to creating skills and employment opportunities. It aims to educate and inform children, young adults, and their families about HS2 and the employment and training opportunities it will create and support, prioritising schools closest to the line of route, stations and depots, with a focus on schools that are in more deprived areas and score below average for educational attainment. It has so far delivered more than 35,000 hours of educational engagement to 30,000 students during the course of over 170 events. 1.4 A more detailed overview of our current programme is available as a government information paper. Information tailored for teachers is presented at www.plotr.co.uk/hs2forteachers. 1.5 Given the levels of interest in the project nationwide, HS2 Ltd is particularly interested in developing a more scalable programme which can be accessed by students wherever they are located in the country. This is a key driver to create an online resource which is central to the planned primary school engagement programme. 2 Proposal to engage primary school students 2.1 As recognised in the recently published Transport and Infrastructure Skills Strategy there is an anticipated significant shortfall in skills of value to the Transport and Infrastructure sectors. 2.2 To address this and plan for the long term, it is imperative that HS2 Ltd begins to reach out to primary school students. This fits with Hs2 Ltd’s Education Programme aims of raising awareness of Science, Techno