Cycling to School: Information for Parents
If more of your children cycled to school everyone would benefit: the children themselves, the wider community and the population as a whole.
Making kids fitter
Nationally, 50 per cent of children get less than the recommended one hour a day of moderate physical activity. Nearly a quarter of primary school children are overweight and numbers are rising.
Cycling to school is an enjoyable, affordable way for children to get much-needed physical exercise. By supporting cycling, you would be taking an active role in promoting healthy lifestyles. Patterns of adult activity are established in childhood, so the improvement in your childrens’ health could be life-long.
Helping kids perform better
Teachers in schools across the UK have reported that pupils who walk or cycle to school are more alert and concentrate better than those who travel by car.
Fostering independence and teaching life skills
The physical effort of cycling to school has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety and improve children’s self-confidence and independence.
Cycling teaches important life skills. Parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children’s confidence and self-reliance. Cycling to school – after appropriate cycle training – helps children develop road sense, assess risk and think for themselves.
Reducing road congestion and pollution
A higher level of cycling to school will reduce road congestion around the school entrance, a big problem for most schools with limited drop-off space.
Traffic congestion is potentially dangerous as well as annoying and stressful. Cars jostling for space set up a vicious circle, as the roads become less safe and even more parents decide to drive their kids to school. Pro-cycling policies can reverse this trend, reducing road congestion and making things much safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Higher levels of cycling also cut local traffic emissions, benefiting the growing number of children who suffer from asthma. People sometimes worry that children who cycle will be exposed to traffic fumes, but research shows that children inside cars are exposed to three times as much pollution as those outside.
It’s what children want!
90 per cent of children have bikes and over 30 per cent would like to cycle to school, but only one per cent do. Encouraging children to cycle and helping them do so safely sends out positive messages about school life. It gives children a role in improving their own environment and personal sense of wellbeing.
Training:
Cycle training must be part of any strategy to get more children cycling to school. Road Safety Scotland produce the resources for the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme (what many will remember as cycle proficiency) these resources are available to download Cycle Training is currently offered in primary 6 or 7. Being familiar with these resources will allow you to help your children through these schemes. Currently Cycling Scotland are working with various groups to make additional training available to primary 5 and primary 7 children to teach cycle control skills in p5 and making journeys in p7.
Cycle maintenance:
Children may require assistance to make sure their bikes are road worthy. Most reputable bike shops can provide advice and assistance on this. Download the Cycling Scotland information sheet here.
Much of the above information has been adapted from literature that supports the Bike It programme in England a programme managed by Sustrans – www.sustrans.org
Finding out more:
There are many websites that give great advice about cycling. Cycling Scotland would recommend the following. Click on the links below, highlighted in blue, to view the sites.
Safe Routes to School – SUSTRANS - many great resources and a wealth of information as well as information specific to Scotland.
Eco- Schools – great advice and information on many of the environmental issues of concern to schools and pupils. One of their key topics is transport.
Health Promoting Schools – Outlines the benefits of integrating cycling into everyday school life and has a couple of activities that can be done with children.
