Raleigh Education Trust – Gamechanger delivering an INFORM session at The BIG Conversation 2024!

Raleigh Education Trust was established in Spring 2017 and continues to grow. As a Trust, they comprise of special, primary academies and pupil referral units and were proud and happy to recently share news that following the Spring budget announcement, the Department for Education (DfE) had approved their application for a multi-million-pound investment in a 100-place Alternative Provision ‘Bowden Academy’ – for pupils permanently excluded from school.

Raleigh Education Trust has been synonymous with hope, economic prosperity, and innovation since it began in 1885 on Raleigh Street in Nottingham. Sir Frank Bowden founded the Raleigh Bike Company just three years later, igniting a legacy that continues to inspire young people today. The Bowden Academy, named after Raleigh’s founder, will work with the entire educational community to give children the best start into early adulthood. 

‘The BIG Conversation 2024’ enabled teachers from across the trust to share best practice and learn about new initiatives, technology, software and activities that could take the trust forward and deliver the very best in terms of educational experience for young people attending their schools. 

Greg and Richard delivered an INFORM session in relation to Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) and County Lines to teachers from schools belonging to the trust which was very well received and included opportunities for teachers to:

-Watch Gamechanger’s hard-hitting 360 degree Virtual Reality CCE and County Lines film experience with branching narrative, choices to make and gamified elements for impact 

-Try out some of the innovative Gamechanger Challenges to help make meaning of the subject matter shown in the 360 degree VR experience 

Gamechanger Challenges comprise of a range of fun and engaging physical group activities that support the development of resilience and promote the need for effective communication and trust.  

Gamechanger’s Virtual Reality CCE and County Lines experience is used as an intervention tool for children and young people that are at high risk of involvement in or already involved in County Lines and as an informative piece to raise awareness amongst professionals. It has been successfully used in training programmes for the police, the department of work and pensions, those working in childrens services and in education settings as well as direct delivery to young people. 

Having spoken to a number of teachers on the day, it was apparent that they had concerns about some of the children and young people in their care, and so were very interested to learn about Gamechanger’s innovative approach to tackling  CCE and County Lines. Teachers we spoke to after viewing the VR film could immediately see the benefits of running our INFORM, INTERVENTION and INFORM programmes.

From our side, it’s not difficult to appreciate why early intervention when it comes to CCE and County Lines is paramount.  The multiple elements of a Gamechanger programme are designed to raise awareness and inform young people about social issues, but to also provide those young people with the essential life skills and an understanding of necessary collaborative approaches that help them to foster emotional resilience.  

Gamechanger’s INFORM Virtual Reality training experiences were developed in conjunction with subject matter experts to deliver practical learning and training programmes. 

Quite simply, intervention at this age could save lives, so Gamechanger continue to address CCE, County Lines and other issues affecting young people in the UK today. 

We would like to thank the teachers and staff of Raleigh Education Trust who invited us to participate at ‘The BIG Conversation 2024’ and those who joined us on the day and made the INFORM session such a success.  

Gamechanger work on a consultative and collaborative basis with our clients and partners. We design tailor-made programmes that make a difference and ultimately, change people’s lives. We tackle the UK’s biggest social issues in a realistic, gritty, fun and engaging way.  

If you want to find out more about how we can work together, please get in touch with us through the link below to book a demo call.