Cycling

Bike Week

For all schools

Bike Week is an annual celebration in June to promote cycling and show the community how easily cycling can become a part of everyday life.

Taking part is easy! You could host a bike breakfast, a sponsored cycle ride, cycling competition or a cycle to school day, each of these activities would help you to achieve the higher levels of accreditation for your travel plan and can be funded through the small grants scheme.

Cyclist training

For all schools

Our team of qualified instructors work year round to provide cyclist training to year 5 and year 6 pupils in all public and some independent schools in the borough. The courses follow the National Standards training levels 1 and 2 and take place during term time. Level 3 training is also available to secondary school pupils.

All levels of cyclist training are available to independent schools at a competitive rate. Funding to cover the cost of training can be applied for through the small grants scheme.

Adult training courses for staff and parents are also available, as are holiday courses for pupils. To find out more about cyclist training or to book a session please visit the cyclist training.page.

Cyclist maintenance courses

For all schools

Experienced cyclists will tell you that one important aspect of cycling is knowing how to deal with the unexpected, albeit rare, mechanical problem on the road as well as how to prevent them.

To complement the on-road cycle training already given to year 5 and 6 pupils, schools are encouraged to host cycle maintenance classes.

Two year 6 graduates from one of these courses summarised the training very succinctly:

We learnt how to do an ‘M’ check, which is checking that the ‘main’ parts of your bike are working correctly, including which tools are needed, how they are used and why. We then conducted the ‘M’ check on our own bikes looking for and fixing punctured tyres, using a puncture repair kit, and changing the brake pads on the bikes

Mayor of London’s school cycle parking scheme

For all schools

Provided by Transport for London, the Mayor of London’s school cycle parking scheme aims to ensure all schools across London have onsite cycle parking facilities that support cycling to school.

The scheme supplies high quality, sheltered cycle parking and installation at no cost to the school.

In April of each year all schools with a valid STP are invited by the School Travel Plan team to apply. To apply schools must identify the need for such facilities through their STP.

For some schools, planning permission may be required. It is the schools responsibility to identify if planning permission is required. Schools are encouraged to contact the Planning Department to determine the requirement.

Schools who have previously received these facilities through this scheme, are an infant school or require staff/visitor cycle parking facilities are ineligible to apply. These schools are encouraged to bid for funding through the small grants scheme for such facilities.

To date, the School Travel Plan team and Transport for London has helped over 30 schools in the borough receive over 1282 cycle parking spaces.

Scooter Training

Responsible scootering is something we want to encourage both for pupil's health and well-being as well as for the environment with the added bonus of reducing congestion around schools. But we all know on our crowded pavements young scooterists need to exercise care and consideration.

In the Summer of 2010 the Council's School Travel Plan and Safety Education teams joined forces to offer a pilot safe scooter training scheme in the playground to Key Stage 1 children.

Children learned about

• Safety checks
• Safe and sensible braking techniques
• Consideration and courtesy to other pavement users
• Making sensible decisions on or near roads and driveways

And our fully accredited instructors took an active part on their own scooters.

Schools with valid school travel plans were encouraged to take part with priority given to schools with Sustainable Travel Accredited and Recognised (STAR) Accreditation. Participation in the training assisted school’s in achieving the higher levels of STP accreditation status.

Following the success and enthusiasm of those who took part in the pilot scheme, Safe Scooter training was continued into the new school year. To date over 1,200 pupils from 30 schools in the borough have taken part.

‘They taught us how to share the pavement with other people. They taught us not to go fast in case we hurt ourselves or other people.’