Cycling and walking to school

Walking (and cycling) are good for our health, good for getting around, good for public spaces and good for society. They both have the potential to make a positive contribution to many key public policy priorities involving health and urban congestion.

Cycling to school

A recent survey of Bedfordshire schools showed that cycling to school was the preferred mode of many pupils.

So, should we be encouraging pupils to cycle to school?

Many feel it is simply too dangerous, young people don't necessarily have the correct road skills or experience, there is nowhere to store bikes and in many cases the local environment is not cycle friendly.

Whilst these concerns are legitimate there is much we can do through the development of a school travel plan to enable and encourage cycling to school. This may be through seeking funds to make the necessary changes to the environment, installing secure cycle storage or perhaps most importantly equipping young people with the necessary skills to make them safe, confident road users.

Cycle training

Whether as a school you allow pupils to cycle or not, it is key that the school acts as the provider for cycle training – a skill that has benefits far beyond the journey to and from school. All pupils should be given the opportunity to participate in cycle training and Bedfordshire County Council Road Safety Team has a number of ways that this can be delivered and be integrated within your school travel plan.

For lower schools 'Off road' cycle courses are available which provide pupils with some of the safety issues to help them and their parents gain increased confidence when riding their bike. Purely run in the school playground, areas covered range from stopping correctly to slalom control. A certificate is issued at the end of the course and if retained, a 1/3 discount will be given off the fee of the NCP course.

For middle and upper schools the National Cycling Proficiency award is available and this can be delivered through a number of flexible learning options. The NCP course consists of 3 x 1 hour sessions and is available to Year 6 students who are 11 years of age before August 31st of the year the course is held.

A video and parent/student guide booklet is issued to each student 4-6 weeks prior to the start of the course. This is used to pre-train themselves as best they can prior to the course start date.

All of the issues in the video and booklet are covered on the course with the test being held on the last day.

If passed, the student is issued with a certificate and pass card and will be allowed to cycle to his/her school if agreed with the school

The issues covered on the course will help the students gain confidence when riding and maintaining a bike and will therefore help to reduce the cycling casualty figures within Bedfordshire

In addition your school should develop a cycle policy, in line with the latest advice form Bedfordshire County Council.

It is important that schools consider cycling within their own local environment and are therefore encouraged to develop a cycle policy as part of the school travel plan.

In this way the right measures will be in place to encourage safer cycling to school.

Further information

For further help and support with regard to any cycling issues you can contact the Road Safety Team| (new window) on (01234) 228336.

Other useful information can be found in the related documents and via the following web sites.

The Cycling Tourist Club| (new window)
The British Cycling Federation| (new window)
National Bike Week| (new window)
Sustrans| (new window)

Staggering statistics!

• The number of journeys made on foot has fallen by 13% in the last ten years.
• The number of miles travelled by foot has fallen by 18% in the same time.
• In 1985 two thirds of primary school children walked to school, now it is less than half.

Just a few small steps

There are many things your school can do to promote walking. The thing to remember is that it doesn't have to be the whole journey each day of the week. A little and often by the majority can make a huge difference!

There are a number of ways we can help you to enable and encourage more pupils to walk to your school. As part of your school travel plan and with the support of your school travel advisor or road safety officer you should consider implementing some of these already successful schemes.

Road Safety and Pedestrian Training

Your area road safety officer will be able to provide you with a range of educational resources to improve road safety education in your school. If you are a lower school you may already be participating in Stepping out Safely, our pedestrian skills training for lower schools.

In addition a Highway Code for young road users| (new window) is available. Alternatively copies and a wide range of information is available from your road safety officer.

Walking Buses

Walking buses are now one of the most popular ways for Lower School children to get to school. Whilst they do require commitment and dedication they have shown to be one of the most effective ways to get parents and pupils out of their cars and achieve a reduction in school gate traffic & car trips.

Bedfordshire County Council is launching a new collaboration with the Rural Transport Partnership which aims to give increased support schools to set up and sustain walking buses.

If you are interested in setting up a walking bus the first step is to read our walking bus pack, this can be downloaded below, or requested from your school travel plan advisor on (01234) 408328.

This will contain all the information you require as well as tips on how to promote the concept and get people interested.

 Walking Bus Pack| (PDF document opens in new window)

Park and Walk Schemes

As more and more children are driven to school the issue of parking outside the school gate is one of ever increasing concern. This is not only a problem for the schools and local residents as parents battle it out for a parking space but also for the police as they are called to deal with the problem. The issue then becomes one of road safety as the number of cars and often-erratic behaviour of parents endangers the children themselves.

"Don't be a fool, park away from school." Is an initiative run in partnership between Bedfordshire County Council and Bedfordshire Police and focuses on schools where school gate parking is a particular problem. A large banner displaying the logo is put up by the school gate and supporting literature and posters are handed out to parents and children by local police officers.

On separate occasions throughout the school term these officers will arrive unannounced at local schools to talk to parents and deliver the message that 'inconsiderate parking' can prove dangerous for children.

For more information contact the school travel plan team at Bedfordshire County Council

Wild about Walking

Across the UK a number of successful walking incentive schemes are in place. In Bedfordshire we have a scheme entitled 'Wild about Walking' details of which are as follows:

For more information please contact a member of the school travel plan team.

Walk to School Week

Walk to School Week is run twice annually with in May and October with a special International Day in the October week. It gives your school a chance to participate in a national effort to encourage walking to school and by doing this hopefully make parents and children alike realise that it is both enjoyable and achievable.

Throughout the weeks we provide schools with promotional materials and exciting competitions and many schools continue the theme with weekly days such as Walk on Wednesdays.

For more information about Walk to School Week| (new window), contact the school travel plan team for more information.