Summer- Autumn 2015 Dumfries and Galloway
Sustrans I Bike news
A wheely good ride.
P7 Pupils from Brownhall finished their year of
in style with a ride out. 6
pupils enjoyed some
group riding on the road
as well as shared cycle
paths. They also had a
bit of fun learning about
riding as a group in single file and in pairs.
Brownhall had recently
completed their Bikeability Level 2 and this was a
perfect opportunity for
pupils to put their new
found skills to the test.
Pupil Reece even stated
in the leavers assembly
that the ride was his favourite part of being a
pupil throughout his whole time at the Primary School, perhaps it was the
ice-creams at Dock Park that swayed his decision.
I’d love to hear from you
I’m Katie Robinson,
Sustrans’ Cycling
Officer for Dumfries
and Galloway
please get in touch
if you have any
great school stories
or would like to find
out more about our
schools work.
Tel: 01387 260167
Mob: 07769 931802
Email: katie.robinson@sustrans.org.uk
Twitter: @SustransScot
Facebook: I Bike Dumfries and Galloway
As well as Brownhall other schools that enjoyed a ride out included
Shawhead Primary School and Holywood Primary who used the ride as
part of a Bike Breakfasts were pupils and parents enjoyed a ride out before a hearty breakfast or cereal and sausage sandwiches.
Stars in the making7..
Dalbeattie High School recently held a Health awareness day were pupils
took part in a variety of different activities which included the Smoothie
Bike and tuition on the skills ramps by local Team Scotland rider Gareth
Montgomerie. There was plenty of promising young stars of the future to
keep an eye out for.
Are your pupils superheroes?
Annan Academy not to be outdone also hosted an afternoon with the
skills track where pupils got to try out some of the schools new mountain
bikes, the Academy have purchased 12 bikes in total and hope to have
them regularly available to pupils.
Sustrans’ Superheroes is an award
scheme recognising pupils’ skills and
achievements in walking, scooting and
cycling. Aimed at 7- to 11-year-olds,
pupils gain points for activities they
complete to become either a Sustrans
Hero or Superhero. Based on a booklet
of activities, the scheme provides the
structure and inspiration for children to
learn and practice the skills essential for
fun, safe and sustained active travel to
school and for other journeys.
sustrans.org.uk/superheroes
Sustrans is the charity that’s enabling people to travel by foot, bike or
public transport for more of the journeys we make every day. It’s time we all began making smarter travel
choices. Make your move and support Sustrans today. www.sustrans.org.uk
© Sustrans 2015. Registered Charity No. 326550 (England and Wales) SCO39263 (Scotland)
Dumfries and Galloway Sustrans I Bike newsletter, summer-autumn2015
Local events and rides.
Overheard
Healthy Dalbeattie Partnership
“ Our culture has changed as a
school, before Sustrans
involvement not one child cycled
to school. As I look out of the
window today, I can see a full bike
shed (as usual!).”
Teacher, Wales
Introduction to Mountain Biking rides.
Every 2nd Sunday of the Month, 2pm at Craignair Health Centre, Dalbeattie.
Bring your Mountain Bike and Helmet to join in beginner and intermediate rides. Under 18s accompanied by an adult who can sign a consent form. For more info contact Sharan Walker 01556 505724.
Active Schools Holiday rides.
22nd July Maxwelltown Railway, Meet 2pm at Maxwelltown High
School.
27th July Heathhall skills loop, Meet 10am Dumfries Rail Station
“We have had more and more
scooters coming to school which
I have to say has improved time
keeping too.”
School champion, Merseyside
4th Aug, Kingholm Quay, Meet Dock Park 2pm
Booking essential and for more info - 01387251300
Cycling Dumfries
There is a full host of weekend Summer rides, for more information
and posters visit their facebook page - Cycling Dumfries
“ This is the best day ever”
P7 Pupil on a I Bike officer led ride,
Dumfries
“I have heard about the kids teaching
their parents how to safety check their
bikes before they go out on a family
ride”
Primary School Teacher, Dumfries
Stepping Stanes is a youth cycle coaching club based in Dumfries,
Scotland. We run cycle coaching designed for young riders age. 8-12.
Our aim is to improve bike skills within a safe and fun environment.
This term in numbers
and across the UK
Your local schools
Stepping Stanes will restart after the holidays on Wednesday 26th
August. For more information or if you would like to attend please
email Fiona Walker— fiona.walker@scottishcycling.org
Number of activities– 49
Sustrans’ School Mark recognises and supports schools’
excellence in active and sustainable travel.
Number of children involved - 1831
Most number of bikes - Heathhall Primary - 74
At last count we had 690 schools who had achieved Bronze level,
75 with the Silver award and 19 with Gold.
Number of Ditch the stabiliser sessions - 3
Number of pupils taught to ride in the sessions - 6
In Scotland
Schools have also demonstrated impressive increases in active
and sustainable travel after taking part in Sustrans’ Big Shift, our
a free-to-access online challenge which sets targets and charts
their success.
From the National Hands Up Scotland 2014—50.4% of
pupils in Scotland said they normally travel to school
actively:
•
44.2% of pupils said they normally walk to school
•
3.4% of pupils said they normally cycle to school
•
2.8% said they normally scoot or skate to school
Did you know? 7-8 years
old is a critical age in keeping girls
motivated to play sport. Beyond this
age, girls become more self-
One of our officers used it to run an inter-school competition
between six primaries, representing over 2,400 pupils. It ran for
just a week, but the results were eye-catching:
* 54.5% - the % of active journeys (across all schools) at the
START of the week
* 78.1% - the % of active journeys by the END of the week
* 94.0% - the highest % of active journeys recorded by a school on
one day
* 2,959 - the number of ADDITIONAL active journeys generated
over the week
Visit bigshift.sustrans.org.uk to set
your school a challenge.
Dumfries and Galloway Sustrans I Bike newsletter, summer-autumn2015
I Bike Volunteers
I Bike volunteering is now entering its second academic year. 39 volunteers have
been recruited and trained so far during
the project. I Bike volunteers have helped
to deliver bike breakfasts, led cycle rides,
cycle skills and Bikeability cycle training
recording 216 hours of volunteering.
I Bike volunteer, Gavin MacArthur says
the best thing about I Bike volunteering is
“Just seeing the kids enjoy it—they’re so
keen to get outside, get on their bikes”.
Contact Lisa Morton for more information:
lisa.morton@sustrans.org.uk 0131 346
1384
Hype that site: movewithsustrans.org.uk
Get your pupils excited about walking, scooting and cy
cling with bright and fun ink stamps, stickers, buttons, reflective
slapwraps, banners and Superheroes badges – all available at
our online shop for schools, groups of schools or local authorties.
I Bike - The Evidence!
Did you know.
During a year of engagement I Bike delivers an average increase
in rates of regularly cycling of between 4.3% and 10.1% within
participating schools.
The average drop in pupils being driven to school is
4 percentage points
Since 2009, I Bike Officers across 5 local authorities have
reached 30,400 pupils at 152 schools (on an incremental basis)
I Bike schools regularly see:
•
•
•
•
An 8 percentage point increase in pupils cycling to school
A 4 percentage point increase in walking and scooting
A 6 percentage point increase in girls regularly cycling to
school
Additionally, I Bike supports the delivery of Cycling
Scotland’s Bikeability Scotland and the Cycle Friendly
Schools Award.
I Bike is currently active in schools in: Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross, East Dunbartonshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife, Dundee,
Midlothian and Larbert & Stenhousemuir (CATCA community
group) with North
Ayrshire coming on board as well for the 15/16 academic year.
What is it..We all generally wear
one when we are out and about on our
bikes!!
To all the fantastic I Bike schools, Head Teachers, Cycling
Champions and pupils—a huge thank you for all your hard work
and support and keep up the great work in 15/16!
Top tips for the autumn term
• See Events on the back page and use any themed weeks,
dates or events to promote or discuss walking, cycling or
scooting7 World Car-free Day, International Walk to School
Day (and Week) and Road Safety Week are all coming in the
months between summer and Christmas
• Start thinking about when the evenings get darker and the
importance of using lights and being visible. Diwali is the
Festival of Lights, perfect for promoting being seen after the
clocks change.
• Plan your activities for 2015/16 and take your hands-up/
baseline surveys to see how pupils are currently travelling. Do
you need to refresh a travel plan, or tweak your
information for new parents and pupils? What new things do you
want to try?
Get this resource
For your chance to win a Sustrans water
bottle can you guess what it is. (Open to
Dumfries and Galloway Schools working
with I Bike.
Send your answers to:
katie.robinson@sustrans.org.uk
• Bike to School Week may have come and gone, but our new
guide, 5 Small Steps to Something BIG, includes five activities designed to be delivered over five days, to help you
turn any week into a Bike, Walk or Scoot to School Week.
Download it at www.sustrans.org.uk/biketoschoolweek
Dumfries and Galloway Sustrans I Bike newsletter, summer-autumn2015
Our work with young people in the UK
The longer, warmer days always provide a fine opportunity for more
walking, scooting and cycling, even if the exam period can sometimes make it more challenging to find time for events and activities.
To help, we produced an activity guide for Bike to School Week in
June, 5 Small Steps to Something BIG. We selected parts of our
other resources so teachers had an activity for each day of the
week, carefully designed to take their pupils from thinking about
how they travel to what they can do to make healthier, sustainable
journeys every day (see Resources on P3).
The idea is it can be used to run a bike, walk or scoot to school
week at any time a school chooses. Another free resource to
complement this is Sustrans’ Big Shift – an online challenge
where schools log the active journeys they are making to see how
much they improve over five days. As with the Big Pedal, a little
competitive spirit goes a long was and you can read the impressive
results that some schools have achieved on P2.
These free resources are just part of what Sustrans is doing to help
young people in the UK. Key to our work is our partnership with
government, local authorities and numerous other like-minded
organisations supporting young people to be happier and healthier.
Active children do better in every possible way. Their mental and
physical health improves, they perform better in school, are better
behaved and have better concentration and attendance. That’s
why, in partnership with Nike, we’ve helped to create a new
Active Schools guide developed specially for school leaders,
explaining in simple steps how to make schools more active.
It shares best practice and success stories from around the
world, offers guidance, advice and support and helps school
leaders to inspire pupils to have early positive experiences of
physical activity. Get started and download it from
www.designedtomove.org/resources/active-schools
Dates for the diary
July
17th Ramadan ends
22nd Active schools ride (see pg 2)
27th Active Schools ride (pg 2)
August
1st Cycling Dumfries Ride (pg 2)
4th Active Schools ride (pg 2)
8th Cycling Dumfries Ride (pg 2)
12th International Youth Day
26th Stepping Stanes, first session
back.
September
3rd Sept is Cycle to Work Day
16th-22nd European Mobility Week
22nd World Car-free Day
October
3rd Hardrock Challenge Dalbeattie
7th International Walk to School Day
5th-9th International Walk to School
Week
25th Clocks change
31st Halloween
November
5th Bonfire Night
11th Diwali
23rd-29th Road Safety Week
www.roadsafetyweek.org
December
24th-26th Christmas
Thank you for supporting our work
Sustrans’ vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the
environment, and this applies to children just as much as it does to adults. The positive experiences of all
the children that you have read about in this newsletter are the culmination of more than 20 years of Sustrans
and our officers working with schools, colleges and young people.
Without your support, many children would not have the opportunity to enjoy independent and active journeys
in and around their communities, so a huge thank you from us on their behalf. The long-term benefits of
creating healthy and sustainable journeys will be shared by every one of us – in terms of our health, the
environment and the wider economy.
If you like the sound of what Sustrans does and think that more schools, colleges and young people in your
area could benefit from our work, or you want to know more, please get in touch.
email youngpeople@sustrans.org.uk
phone 0117 915 0100
online www.sustrans.org.uk/youngpeople
Sustrans is grateful for the continued support of our schools work in Dumfries from the following:
Dumfries and Galloway Sustrans I Bike newsletter, summer-autumn2015