Bicycle Network: Success stories
Champion teachers
How Janette established an active travel culture
Bike Education the key for Kate
Hot tips from Lalor Secondary College
Clare's tips for success
A holistic approach at Lightning Reef
How we broke our barriers
Great Mill Park Road Ride
How Janette established an active travel culture
How di
d your school celebrate National Ride2School day this year?
"Narrabeen Lakes celebrated National Ride2School day this year by holding a whole school celebration of travelling to school in an active, healthy and sustainable way. Some students met the principal, Mr Delaney who was riding his scooter, to travel part way to school. Students were encouraged to ride, scoot, skate or walk to and from school. On arrival at school, we had healthy breakfast snacks of fresh fruit and homemade muffins which the parent club organised. Students came dressed in mufti. Bikes were also ‘dressed’ for the day, the theme being ‘sustainable travel of the future’. One of our students, Brooke, in year 2 used sustainable travel from the past; she arrived on Magic, her pony. The students attended an assembly where Bronwyn Bishop talked about active lifestyle and healthy travel choices. The best dressed bike competition winners were announced and certificates presented to the prize winner"
Aside from National Ride2School Day, how else does your school encourage riding throughout the rest of the school year?
"Students are encouraged to ride, scoot, skate or walk to school during the entire school year. The school has a strong focus on sustainability, and has won many awards in this area for the educational programs it offers to the students. Students’ bikes are tagged with a label after they are parked at school; students then write their name on their tag to go into the draw for incentive prizes that are drawn once a week. Regular information snippets are included in the school newsletter to educate and motivate students and their families into becoming active travellers. The snippets include safety, health and sustainability messages"
Why does your school encourage students to choose to ride to school as opposed to getting driven?
"Narrabeen Lakes Public School is situated on the shores of the beautiful Narrabeen Lagoon, which forms part of the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment area. This is a valued and environmentally sensitive area, and as such, students have a powerful, vested interest in the preservation of the area. There is a bike path that runs the length of the lagoon that students are encouraged to use. Also, many of the students who live in the area live in apartments and unit block developments and do not have garden space for recreational purposes. The school aims to provide the students with as many experiences as possible that will shape their future decisions regarding their own well being, as well as forming lifelong healthy habits that apply not just to themselves but to the future health of the planet"
Will you be a part of future National Ride2School Days? Why?
"The students at Narrabeen Lakes Public School look forward eagerly to each National Ride2School Day and are already asking about the event next year. The school will definitely be participating again. It is on the school calendar. All the teachers at the school are actively involved with helping with this event. It is certainly a permanent fixture on the school calendar each year. It gives every student in the school the opportunity to get behind a fabulous, enjoyable event and be active and healthy. We are always thinking of new ways to make the day bigger and better.
You held a Ride2School Day especially for the Grades 5 & 6s recently, please tell us how you celebrated,
"Our year five and six students were away on school camp during the National Ride2School Day this year. They were very disappointed to miss out on the event, so they recently celebrated with their very own Ride2School Day. All the students rode to school and participated in a bicycle skills training day, facilitated by James from Bicycle NSW. Students practised a number of riding skills around obstacles in the school playground. The day was also enhanced with the assistance of Eve and Mel from the Northern Sydney Area Health Service unit. Mel was able to show the students a presentation of her recent riding holiday through India. This generated much interest and discussion by the students about how to incorporate bike riding into future holiday destinations. As a surprise for the students, Brooke, in year 2 offered to ride her pony, Magic to school. Year five and six students were so surprised to see the pony at school and loved patting her and talking to Brooke and her mum"
Can you give us some insight as to how easy (or perhaps not) it is to organise a celebration at the school?
Ride2School day is easy to organise. The resources that are on the Ride2School website make it easy to organise and run. I always use the newsletter notes to let everyone know in advance that the day is coming up and to generate interest. The day always has a theme for ‘dressing’ the bicycles or scooters. The resources with suggestions for the running of the day add to our ideas, and I always supply a hard copy of the document in the staff room for teachers to look through and get ideas for how to follow up with relevant activities in their classroom. I collect the hands up data before the day and on the day. However, it is harder on a day to day basis to keep this part going due to the range of responsibilities I have in other areas.
Do you have any advice for other teachers who might be looking to celebrate National Ride2School Day for the first time, or might be thinking about supporting our program?
"I think that the measure of success with this program is the amount of enthusiasm that is generated by the students. The enthusiasm on the day is contagious, with parents and grandparents getting involved in the spirit of ride, scoot, skate or walk to school. I coordinate a number of programs in the school throughout the year, but National Ride2School Day is the one that always stands out. The students come through the gates in convoys, smiling, laughing, motivated and feeling like they have achieved something worthwhile, not just for themselves but also for the planet."
Keep up the great work Janet!
Bike Education the key for Kate
Kate Earle from Swan Reach Primary School has fostered a great level of parental support for riding by running Bike Education.
We ask Kate why she supports riding to school and get some great advice about how to incorporate Bike Education into your school's curriculum.
Why do you promote riding to school within your school community? What are the benefits?
It promotes a healthy lifestyle and encourages students to become active rather than passive human beings. Cycling is excellent for physical activity and is an environmentally friendly way of travelling. It also teaches road sense at an early age thus promoting good riding habits.
At our school, Bike Education is a part of the school curriculum for Grade 3 and 4 classes because while it is such a fun way to travel, it needs to be done safely.
Why do you feel it is so important to teach students bike education?
If we teach students the correct way to ride a bicycle hopefully they will learn good habits that will stay with them for life. Bike Education teaches students:
• To develop the physical and cognitive skills to manage the road traffic environment safely as a cyclist.
• To gain knowledge and understanding of the road traffic environment and the road laws.
• To develop responsible behaviours, attitudes and decision-making skills for the safe use of bicycles both on and off the road through participation in enjoyable learning experiences relevant to their ages and abilities.
Do you think teaching bike education encourages more kids to choose to ride to school? Do you see parents attitudes towards letting their child ride to school change once they have completed bike ed?
Yes, teaching Bike Ed does encourage students to ride their bikes to schools, particularly when they go to secondary school. Parents have more confidence in their child riding their bikes when they have completed the course.
What advice do you have for other teachers who might be thinking about incorporating bike education into their curriculum?
Bike Ed fits well into the Physical, Personal and Social Learning Strand at Levels 3 and 4 and in particular the Health and Physical Education Domain and I would encourage them to contact their DEECD Senior Programme Officer for their region to ask for resources and support, particularly the new Bike Ed resource kit. Also, contact the Ride2School team, Vic Roads, their local Shire about the Walking to School and Ride to School programme.
We have heard you are involved in organising the East Gippsland Bike Ed Challenge. What is the East Gippsland Bike Ed Challenge?
The East Gippsland Bike Ed Challenge is the first one in Gippsland to take place each year. We used to run it at Nagle College in Bairnsdale but it has been moved to St. Brendan’s Primary School in Lakes Entrance so that schools from Far East Gippsland do not have to travel so far to participate.
Bike Ed in Gippsland is strong again this year with 53 schools and 71 teams entering with a chance to win two bikes and helmets just for competing.
The competition is sponsored by RoadSafe Gippsland, in conjunction with VicRoads, Victoria Police and Local Government, and offers schools the chance to extend their Bike Ed program.
The skills competition has been designed so that every school in Eastern Victoria has the opportunity to enter, including the small schools.
The aims of the Challenge are:
* To reinforce responsible riding behavior in young people.
* To supplement the Bike Ed program currently conducted in schools, and assist students where there is no program available.
* To give students and teachers an incentive to use the Bike Ed material.
* For schools to teach a comprehensive Bike Ed Skills program.
The course includes 10 checkpoints based on the Bike Ed skills track and skills taught in various components of the course. Each checkpoint provides the rider with the opportunity to score points with individual points being totalled for a team score.
Want to know more about Bike Ed?
Hot tips from Lalor Secondary College
Jessica Walsh, data manager at the school, tells us why promoting riding as a mode of transport benefits their school and shares her hot tips!
What does your school do to promote riding to school?
Our school runs a Bike Education Program as a subject in year nine and ten.
Students select the subject on a semester basis and participate in both theoretical and practical sessions related to bicycle safety and maintenance. Students begin riding bikes at school and progress to local bike paths and roads around Lalor. As we are in a low socio-economic status area, students often don’t have access to a roadworthy bicycle, we have been lucky enough to have purchased 27 bikes and helmets to use as a class set. This makes riding easily accessible for our students.
We also run an Outdoor and Environmental Education program at the year ten level where students learn about the benefits of riding a bike to not only improve personal fitness levels but to improve the environment. Students attend a one day bike riding tour along the Merri Creek Bike Path to Dights Falls.
We also encourage students to ride/walk to school by promoting the Ride2School program’s National Ride2School Day. It is good to be a part of this event as it encourages students that wouldn’t normally ride to school to give it a go.
Why do you promote riding to school and riding at your school?
The benefits of riding to school are improved cardiovascular health and well-being. It helps students reach the National Physical Activity Guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity per day. There are also obvious benefits for the environment, less pollution and less congestion around the school gate. It is relatively safe to ride bikes to school around Lalor Secondary College as there are many bikes paths established in our local area.
Why do you think secondary students choose not to ride to school?
There is a significant decline in students participating in physical activity as they get older, particularly with girls. From around year nine upwards, students play less sports outside school and are involved with less physical activity at recess and lunch-time.
Reasons for not riding bikes or participating in physical activity are many and varied. Some of the main reasons I think can be attributed to developmental changes to the body through adolescence, therefore students not feeling as comfortable with their bodies to participate in sports. Other barriers to participating in riding bikes are students demonstrating a greater commitment to their studies, heavy bags, more time dedicated to social activities and part-time work as well as spending time on electronic media.
If students are used to being dropped off via a car, it is more difficult to change their behaviour as they get older.
Do you have any advice for other teachers looking to encourage riding at their Secondary School?
Try to run as many activities as possible where students have the opportunity to ride their bikes, either through an excursion or lesson time. If you demonstrate enthusiasm and persistence you will be successful in filtering your message through to the students. Good luck!
Clare's tips for success
Carrum Primary School is one of the Ride2School program's champion schools. Clare Soler, teacher at the school, does great things to encourage the school community to walk and wheel to school and does not let winter stop her students from keeping up the active travel habit.
We have let you in on her secret! Check out our interview with Clare:
1. You are proactive during the winter months in keeping students walking and wheeling despite the cold and wet weather. How do you ensure that your active travel rate remains consistent during a time that most schools see a drop in active travel?
"During the winter months we implement the frequent rider passport system which is a great way to keep students motivated".
"Students have their passports clipped for each day they travel by active transport. For every 10 days of active travel students receive a ticket in the weekly active transport raffle, drawn at the weekly whole school assembly. Over 70% of students currently have at least one ticket in the raffle".
2. Your school has achieved a fantastic average active travel rate of 73%. What initiatives does your school have in place to achieve such an amazing statistic?
"We have moved from monthly wheels & heels days to fortnightly wheels & heels days, raising the profile of active transport within the school community. We implement initiatives such as the frequent rider passport system, healthy breakfasts and a golden boot trophy".
"We also have an active parent body, a larger number of parents are now riding or walking to school with their children".
3. We have received Hands Up! active travel survey results from your school consistently since the program started in 2007. How do you ensure the results are reported to us each month? Do you have any tips you can share with other schools?
"Two of our school captains collect the hands up data each wheels & heels day, this data is then passed on to me to be published in the school newsletter & entered online in the Ride2School hands up section".
4. What benefit does the school receive from entering monthly data?
"Our wheels & heels data gives us a good picture of how well our active transport initiatives are working. It also gave us active travel information that helped us plan for the construction of our new bike shed".
5. Do you share the data with the school community?
"Our wheels & heels data is regularly communicated to the school community via the school newsletters & whole school assemblies".
6. Why do you encourage active travel at your school?
"As a sustainable school we encourage all environmentally responsible behaviours including active transport. We also believe in the physical & social benefits of students travelling to school with friends and family".
Carrum Primary School's active travel progress
A holistic approach at Lightning Reef
Each Friday morning at 9:30am a group of parents and grandparents from the Lightning Reef Primary School community set off on their weekly social bike ride.
As Jarrod Epps, teacher at the school asks, ‘Why should we only focus on students when encouraging active lifestyles'?
Located in Bendigo in Victoria’s North West, Lightning Reef Primary School’s major focus this year is on promoting healthy living across the whole school community.
Jarrod believes encouraging parents and grandparents to get on the bike shows them that riding can be a better way to travel than by car. Hopefully, when the wider school community understands that bike riding can be a fun, safe and effective way to get around the neighbourhood, they will encourage students to follow suit.
The school has a ‘bike bank’ of 30 bikes and helmets that are available for participants to borrow if they do not have their own and recently, the school purchased toddler trailers to also be available for mums and dads with littlies.
Jarrod believes involving the parents and grandparents of the students has created a holistic Ride2School program at their school and has provided for some fantastic role models for the students.
How we broke our barriers
We asked Mark Van Bergen, principal at Whitfield District Primary School in rural Victoria, to let us in on his secret to active travel success. Check out his responses and see how your school can follow suit.
What do you do to promote walking and riding to school?
Healthy, active lifestyles are the message that we promote in all aspects of the curriculum at Whitfield District Primary School. The promotion of walking or riding to school (or to the bus stop), is only one aspect of encouraging and educating our students to lead an active and healthy life. Other program offerings, such as Bike Ed, Jump Rope for Heart, Go for Your Life, Life Ed and various walk to school days, camps and activities go to reinforce the message that being active and healthy is for life, not a one-off event or a 3 or 4 week focus.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Ride2School program and promote active travel?
Ultimately to further strengthen our message of everyday activity. Another reason was that the Ride2School Program offered support and resources to get the program up and running.
What are the main barriers to walking and riding for your students and how do you overcome them?
The majority of our students live 5km or more away and catch the school bus to and from school. Also the roads leading to the school from outlying areas are 100km/h with no shoulders and carry a reasonable proportion of agricultural trucks and machinery.
The ‘Part way is OK’ message from the Ride2School program helped in promoting to students that walking or riding the few hundred metres to the bus stop was valuable and is probably a similar distance to what a lot of kids would cover in town to get to and from school. Positive reinforcement has probably been the most effective tool in changing and continuing the behaviour. Congratulating the town kids who ride and walk, as well as asking a student “…was that your bike next to the post near Peipers Lane that I saw?” are simple statements and questions that make a real difference when there are other students around.
Before you know it you have half a dozen kids letting you know that they rode or walked to the bus stop this morning. Regular events and activities throughout the school year (like those listed earlier), help to keep the momentum and focus of the active travel and healthy lifestyle message.
How difficult do you find promoting walking and riding to school?
The ongoing nature and myriad events that the school offers makes it relatively easy to maintain the focus. Well publicised Ride and Walk to school days during the year have assisted in bringing families onboard with the active travel message. Because most our students catch the bus to school, on these days we take all the students at the school to the King River (approx 2km away) and we all walk back to school together and are greeted with a healthy breakfast that the parents have organised. Many parents join us for the walk, as well as grandparents and younger siblings (often there are as many family members as there are students at the school!). Newsletter articles written by the students about all the events we do also helps in delivering the message to a wider audience.
What advice would you give to a school in a rural area wanting to promote walking and riding to school?
Promoting the ‘Part way is OK’ message removed a lot of the barriers and excuses to active travel. Ongoing positive reinforcement through events and making links between those events and curriculum help keep the message alive. Finally, many rural schools have great settings and communities which they can utilise to get out and be active.
Great Mill Park Road Ride
Julie Gatt from Plenty Parklands Primary School showed Ride2School how to run a mini RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride.
The classroom teachers did seven lessons of theory in seven weeks. The school then culminated the theory with two days of practical lessons where the students did three sessions each day, with the last two sessions being an obstacle course and The Great Mill Park Road Ride!
On The Great Mill Park Road Ride the school had three parent helpers as riders and another three as observers at checkpoints around the road. One parent assisted by driving the safety car behind the riders. On the road ride itself they had two police officers, Maureen from Ride2School's Volunteer Program as well as three teachers.
The Great Mill Park Road Ride was conducted as part of two activities in two groups, which alternated between an in-school obstacle course and games-on-bikes activity back at school with two other teachers.
Julie Gatt said the benefits to the students were endless, not to mention that they had "over 60 bikes in our bike shed after the bike education program” and that “each child who participated constantly had a smile on their face."
Ride2School spoke to Maureen, a Ride2School volunteer dedicated to assisting schools with riding and walking. Maureen's post-events thoughts were that it “went terrific". It was a credit to the teachers and completely beneficial for everyone.” Being a ‘father duck’ at the back of The Great Mill Park Road Ride group, Maureen led as a support and helper to maintain control.
Maureen recommended for other schools thinking about running a similar fun-filled event to "pick quiet streets and intersections” and feels it is a “good experience for the kids... to get confidence on roads.”
