Education
Education and learning programmes, events and initiatives will be a central part of the S&DR200 Festival.
The learning programmes and events will engage children and young people across the region from Key Stage 1 through to Further Education with the inspiring story of S&DR and the whole of the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) learning agenda.
There will be learning activities across the festival exhibitions and activity resources for teachers. Partners will create hands-on workshops on invention and engineering and playful activities that everyone can be part of in the town centres across the region.
The festival team will also be working on several creative opportunities within the programme with several education providers. These include Durham University, Northern School of Art, Teesside University and University Technical College in South Durham.
If you are an educator and would like to find out more, email info@sdr200.co.uk
We will use the original S&DR journey in 1825 as a starting point to engage young people in the belief that the challenges of our time can be overcome by creativity, collaboration, perseverance and by not being afraid to fail.
Niccy Hallifax, S&DR200 Festival Director.
Little Inventors
Little Inventors
We are teamed up with Little Inventors to launch the S&DR200 Invention Challenge.
Little Inventors believe that young people have the best creative ideas, and they love giving them opportunities to explore their imaginations.
The S&DR200 Invention Challenge encompassed history, design and technology, science, art and design, english and geography and is for students of all ages.
Children from across Stockton, Darlington, Durham and beyond were challenged to invent something fun, clever or unusual that can travel on or make use of disused railway tracks or to design their dream train carriage.
Five chosen ideas have been brought to life by expert makers offering a unique glimpse into the future of travel and design.
The response to Next Stop: The Future! was phenomenal: over 500 ideas from eight countries worldwide, with the initial challenge video attracting nearly 30,000 views on YouTube.
From these submissions, five standout ideas were selected and brought to life by expert makers:
- Cinema on Wheels by Favour (age 10, Bowesfield Primary School, Stockton) - crafted by Stuart Palmer.
- Seed Planter 2000 by Elizabeth (age 11, St Paul's Catholic Primary School, Stockton) - engineered by Craig Fox of Foxworks Engineering.
- Star Gazer by Evan (age 9, Nunthorpe Primary Academy, Middlesbrough) - realised by Orbital FX with students from The Northern School of Art.
- Aquarium Train by Harry (age 10, St Paul's Catholic Primary School, Stockton) - brought to life by Orbital FX with students from The Northern School of Art.
- The Camp-Star by Alexis, Ariana & Hayley (age 10, Somerset Academy, Markham, Canada) - created by Orbital FX with students from The Northern School of Art.
Inventors of the past dreamed up everything from hand-powered bikes to zoo trains - and now, these young visionaries have taken that spirit full steam ahead with ideas that are fun, clever, and totally off the rails!
The winners of the S&DR200 Invention Challenge exhibition are on display at Preston Park Museum until April 2026.
Creative opportunities
Creative opportunities
For 16 to 24 years olds there is the S&DR Young Producers Programme which will give members the opportunity to further their skills in a range of areas including creative producing, curating, marketing and events. If you are interested in finding out more about this programme, email s&drvolunteering@darlington.gov.uk
Spark Tees Valley
Spark Tees Valley is an internationally recognised company that specialises in supporting schools to deliver an engaging curriculum. This includes a huge range of resources that fit in to the existing curriculum.
For the S&DR200, Festival Spark Tees Valley have developed a new set of brilliant resources for teachers to use. The resources are aimed at primary age children and are split into 5 areas of study.
Each area has an introductory video, artefact resources, curriculum linked teaching resources and digital skills task.
Teachers can use all of it as a scheme of work, or pick elements to fit with other themes such as innovation, empire, energy and industrial revolution.
Learn more about SDR200: Birth of the Railways with Spark Tees Valley here.
