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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Bike ride promotes cycling to secondary schools
August 27, 2009 9:34 AM
• YEAR six children preparing for secondary school in September are being encouraged to get their bikes out and ride to classes next term by Richmond Council; they have been shown the way by two councillors.
Youngsters took part in a ride from Archdeacon Cambridge's School in Twickenham to Teddington School on Saturday, and were given advice by Cllr David Trigg, Cabinet Member for Traffic, Travel and Parking, and Deputy Mayor Cllr Ben Khosa, who donned his ceremonial robes as well as bike safety gear and a helmet to accompany them.
Cllr Trigg said: "Cycling is a fun, healthy and cheap way of helping children to get to their new secondary school, and an easy way of keeping every family's CO2 emissions down. Most children don't want to turn up to school in their parents' car, so by providing an organised bike ride now, they will get to know the routes to local secondary schools and become familiar with cycling on the roads. It will show that cycling is an effective means of transport."
The aim was to make the children and their parents aware of how easy cycling to secondary school could be, and to promote the new National Standard for cycling which has replaced cycling proficiency courses, where children are taught how to ride their bikes safely on the road instead of in the playground. Showing pupils the way to their new secondary also ties in with many schools' travel plans.
Cllr Khosa added: "By getting the family involved, parents will enjoy and learn from the experience and we hope they'll encourage their children to cycle to school next term."
The Council intends that in future all year six pupils will have the chance to take part in an organised ride from where they live or their primary to a secondary school, to support the borough's major drive to encourage 'smarter travel' among people of all ages. The children who took part in the ride were among 2,400 who have received on road cycle training this year from the Council as part of the campaign to make young cyclists safer.
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