My son goes to a school that seems very good in many ways, but for some reason they seem to be very anti-bike, I was wondering if anybody else had come across teachers like this, or if I can maybe get some cycling organisation to lobby the school… CTC or something?

The problem seems to be this; The school have a very nice newish bike shed area, but they have a rule that only pupils who have taken their cycling proficiency test can cycle to school. This seems quite sensible, except the school only puts on the test in the summer term at the end of year 6 (this is a junior school so from year 3-6 age 7-11 ish) So obviously no pupils are therefore have been allowed to cycle to school until their midway during their final term… Obviously the bike shed at the school is ALWAYS empty, even on lovely sunny days. It is even sillier when you notice that the infant school next door has a big bike area, that is always packed with bikes from the younger kids!

Anyhow I am not one to take things like this lightly, and I also find this extremely annoying personally as we live about 3 miles from the school, so a complete pain to walk in a morning, but a great ride with the kids, mostly on cycle paths! It seems to be illogical to be told by a school we effectively HAVE to drive to school.

So anyway I cycled in with my son today, and made sure he locked his bike in the bike shed (instead of being a wimp and locking it outside the school in the street) Teacher comes up and makes disaproving comments to my son, saying does he know the school rule. I step in and say we live too far to walk, and that it would obviously be stupid to leave the bike in the street when there is a perfectly good cycle rack here and if there is a problem they can call me. I am really hoping they will call , but i suspect that they will instead take it out on my son, and I will have to cause a stink tomorrow.

Anyhow any advice appreciated….

rant over

Local papers love this type of thing.

Phone them up and set them going

They're all like that now AFAIK

You could get him trained elsewhere. Many councils will provide Bikeability training to residents. Or there will certainly be training providers somewhere nearby.

Or teach him yourself, i would recomend Cycle Craft by John Franklin as a good theory book.

Good luck,

Alex

go over their heads to the LEA (Local education Authority and speak direct to them and explain what they are doing.
It may be some H & S (incorrectly used here)paranoia from the Head.
There will likely be a transport startegist person atthe council who has responsibility for encouraging cycle use uptake (perhaps even a target?).Get them on board as well
Perhaps request a meeting with school do discuss?
Sign a disclaimer saying you are doing it a your own risk?
Take some photos of the bike shed next door?
Failing that frankly I would just ignore them and send them a letter explaining what you are doing and why.

Ours had to apply to the school for permission & a permit to be able to cycle in

I think they probably posted a guard at the gate to stop every child cyclist & demanded …
[german accent]"You have papers"[/german accent] 🙂

Joking aside – I seem to recall it was an outside agency that supplied the bike sheds & put in the rules

Bike IT – or similar

You could always take a less combatant stance and contact the school to see whether additional training courses might be run?

It isn't anti-biking – it is responsible. It just does not seem to be applied very well. Perhaps, as an interested parent, you might offer some assistance?

I could be wrong here, but I don't think cycle proficiency has to be organised through the school, your local council will have a cycling officer, try contacting them to see if you can organize it directly.

It isn't anti-biking – it is responsible

I disagree, it's not the school's responsibility to make the decision as to whether a child is competent enough to cycle to school, that is the parent's responsibility. Would they ban a child from arriving by car because a parent has a previous conviction for dangerous driving?

I'd just keep riding to school- once other folk see you doing it, they'll do it too.

the school travel plan should be encouraging to sustainable forms of transport. ask for a copy and see if it matches what is being done.

you gould raise it at a governors meeting?

you could write to the head.

you could canvass the other parents about it and get a few additional signatures to back you up?

is the school in a dangerous location for the majority who would cycle?

I think the school is probably responding to the worry of being held at least partially responsible if a child who has had no guidance or training, cycles under a bus, in that respect they are being “responsible”.

They are probably more keen to be seen to have considered children’s safety, as suggested above, play the game and offer to help facilitate more children gaining cycle proficiency at a younger age. Push the health benefits, see if the local cycling officer will help, they love organising…

If the school still turn down, block or ignore any attempt on your part to try and push for more child cycle training then I think you could call them “Anti-cycling” and whinge to the local rag, but try to get them on side, things will progress smoother and faster if you do…

I remember 12 years ago in year 10 i needed a signed permit to be able to bike to school. Strange thing really looking back.

School's can't ban kids from cycling to school, but they are allowed to ban bikes on the school property (so you could lock the bike up outside).

CTC have just launched a campaign on exactly this topic: see http://www.ctc.org.uk/righttoridetoschool

This obviously nonsense, and you did the right thing ingnoring the daft ruling. I would have done just the same. (Fortunately our school has a very much more enlightened attitude). My daughter (age 6) has learnt LOADS about cycling on her ride to school. There are roads to cross and some very steep little hills to ride up.

Your school is doing the kids a real disservice, and you should (politely) tell the head, then just get on with it.

You might also put your carbon hat on, and point out to the head that driving 3 miles to school will emit nearly half a tonne of CO2 over a year. This is about half the total "allowance" your son is allowed under the requirement for 80..90% cuts in our emisssions. This takes no account also of his other emissions (largely food production and domestic/school heating). Your head is pushing un unsustainable future for the kids he/she is teaching, and is providing a very poor example.

Where is the school? If you say BikeIT got the sheds put up then it sounds like the school may have a BikeIT officer who is part of Sustrans. They are working hard with many schools to encourage cycling. If they do have an officer it may be worth contacting Sustrans or speaking to the Bikeit officer direct.

Sounds like the nonsense I was given when my son first started school. As above ask to see their school transport plan. We didn't even have bike sheds 18 months ago, fortunatley thanks to some pressure from me and some other parents we now do.

Next time you ride to school ask the teacher when they are accepting responsibility for your child, when you leave home or when you enter school? The school does not have the right to tell you how to commute to school.

My daughter's school provides bike parking for both the infants and juniors. They provide pedestrian training for the infants, level 2 bikability for the lower juniors and level 3 for the older ones.

They're bringing in a permit system for riding to school, but that's mainly so they can stop the odd idiot who loons around the playground instead of pushing the bike through.

The shelters will probably have been put in by the Sustrans Bike It programme. If you don't get anywhere, contact Sustrans and they'll be able to put you in touch with the local bike It officer. Schools like to have things like bike sheds because it ticks boxes, but some paranoid H&S nut head can ruin it.

If you don't get anywhere speaking to the head, ask for the chair of governors' phone number and get in touch with them. If you're lucky, they won't just be the head's buddy and will actually do something.

is the school in a dangerous location for the majority who would cycle?

not really, just normal suburban roads. My daughter goes to a different junior school up the road, where cycling is actively encouraged. I couldn't find a space for her bike in their bike shed today!

It isn't anti-biking – it is responsible

I don't understand how it can be the school's responsibility on the parents choice of how they get to school. It is up to the parent to decide when their child is safe to ride to school, which may be on the pavement, alongside a parent, or on their own if they are mature enough.

I have heard just now that they have moved the cycling proficiency to this term for the year sixes, so at least this year the top year of the school will get a chance to cycle in, however that still does nothing for the rest of the school. I have heard a lot of schools do this in year six because the government funds cycling proficiency tests, but only for yr 6 pupils. If a school does it early and actively encourages cycling by doing so, it ends up having to pay for the scheme itself.

Oh for Gods sake, the Worlds going mad, my 3 yr old cycles with me or his mum to nursery every morning. Thank god I live where I do.

Stick your oar in I would.
I had the same problem with my sons middle school. They caved pretty quickly. IIRC small groups of parents taught the kids and testers were called in later.
The daft this is, most of the kids then go and remove the brakes from their BMX's but no one seems to care.

So anyway I cycled in with my son today, and made sure he locked his bike in the bike shed (instead of being a wimp and locking it outside the school in the street) Teacher comes up and makes disaproving comments to my son, saying does he know the school rule. I step in and say we live too far to walk, and that it would obviously be stupid to leave the bike in the street when there is a perfectly good cycle rack here and if there is a problem they can call me. I am really hoping they will call , but i suspect that they will instead take it out on my son, and I will have to cause a stink tomorrow.

Why did you do it like this? Why didn't you talk to the school in the first place, rather than creat a situation where you've now put your son between you and the school. Daft way to do it IMO. A agree the policy isn't great but you don't seem to know exactly why they have it, which seems a poor start to getting something sorted.

Why did you do it like this? Why didn't you talk to the school in the first place, rather than creat a situation where you've now put your son between you and the school. Daft way to do it IMO. A agree the policy isn't great but you don't seem to know exactly why they have it, which seems a poor start to getting something sorted.

You are right, probably not the best way to go about it. I guess its the start of term, first day we've had the chance to cycle in, and I kind of forgot/hoped the problem had gone away. I didn't think about it at all when we left home this morning. On the other hand now I've been reminded of the idiocy of the policy I would like the school to challenge me on this, so that I can kick up a stink.

Find a Parent Governor and raise your concerns with him/her, it's what they're for.

But, no, essentially there's nothing really the school can do about it, other than give you Paddington bear hard stares…

On this note:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/08/cycling-to-school

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/sep/08/cycling-schools

Tell them to go forth and multiply. What right do they have to tell your child how to travel to school? Your kid could ride an elephant to a helicopter pad then take a helicopter to the school and finish off by parachuting down and landing outside the school gates and the school could say f*ck all about it!

Zukemonster – you did the right thing by saying the school need to take it up with you

if you try and go about it the "official" way you will waste months going to meetings, arguing etc – far better just to ignore what is patently a stupid rule. you son is riding in with you – you are his parent – the school has a bikeshed which should be used

anyone who tries to tell you you can't do this is just going to make themsleves sound stupid

I think they'll just drop it

I work in schools as a Bikeability trainer for Torbay Council.

I think the school is probably responding to the worry of being held at least partially responsible if a child who has had no guidance or training, cycles under a bus, in that respect they are being “responsible”.

From experience, I'd say that this is exactly what lies behind the schools policy.
As far as your options go, I'd suggest 2 things. Firstly, I'd suggest to the school that year 5 pupils can be trained to level 2 Bikeability standard, as long as they are 10 years old within that term time. This should be attractive to the school as it doesn't give them a SATS headache. You are right that their current policy of year 6 only means that there are only ever a small number of pupils for a short period of time, able to cycle. The second suggestion would be that pupils ought to be able to cycle in if accompanied by an adult. I would deem that a safer option than letting a child cycle in alone even if they had recieved level 2 training.
If Bike It have been involved in the school, they will be a great help in persuading the school to evolve it's policy. You should be able to contact Bike It through your local authority.

trailmokey's post worries me because I'm 40 years old and have cycled for 35 of those years, and I've never had a lesson! Clearly I am a danger to myself and society in general and from henceforth I will drive to work even on sunny days.

Remember everyone, cycling is dangerous. Step away from the bike.

Seriously though, schools cannot tell pupils not to cycle to school or impose any rules. They could say that the bike isn't allowed on school property, but that's about it.

I can't believe the reaction by a few on here. A school is taking a responsible stance in ensuring kids get training early in their life on safe cycling. It isn't well implemented, but it is very good to see more training in this. They are just managing the risk – the same as any decent company / business. They also have to work to the lowest common denominator – which is a kid whose parents are not cyclists themselves.

My god daughter's school also ran family cylcing days at weekends so parents could join in with the kids on the courses. That is inclusive, educational and a damned fine idea.

Quotes from RoSPA:

About one quarter of the cyclists killed and injured are children. Cycling accidents increase as children grow older and peak at around 16 years.

Most cycling accidents happen in urban areas where most cycling takes place.

For child cyclists, 90% of their accidents occur during the day. The most dangerous hours for cyclists are 3.00 to 6.00 p.m. and 8.00 to 9.00 a.m. on weekdays.

Get off your high horses and support responsible cycle training. Anything – anything at all – that helps prevent road accidents (especially cyclists and especially your own kids) can't be anything other than right and proper. The fact they haven't got the delivery of the training sorted is seperate – try getting involved and help instead of whining on a forum.

in what way is waiting until the age of 10 taking a responsible stance on educating the students? it's like giving 30 year old people sexual education for the first time, they'll have been doing it wrong for at least 14 years before they are shown how to do it right!

the time to instil good cycling practice in children is when they are too young for bravado/teasing and the imminent onset of hormones take over and safety becomes 'un-cool'.

Anything – anything at all – that helps prevent road accidents (especially cyclists and especially your own kids) can't be anything other than right and proper

What about reducing the number of cars around the school at the start and end of the school day, by having more than just 25% of the kids in the school allowed to cycle for just 30% of the school year?

Less cars = safer.

The ideal would be less cars and well-trained kids cycling, but just less cars would be safer.

Why do we do everything so arse about face in this country? Now when I were a lad……….

hmm, just done a bit of reading on the subject and i'm offering a slight retraction of my last statement, well a change in it anyway. It seems that educating children under the age of 8 is less effective as they have a severely limited ability to perceive risk. This doesn't mean that education is not at least partly effective though, as miketually points out a balance between education and improvements in road design/traffic management and driver awareness would be best. It is not the schools responsibility to educate drivers but they teach road safety to kids from a young age as a pedestrian so i see no harm in doing the same for cycling.

in what way is waiting until the age of 10 taking a responsible stance on educating the students?

Because under that age and in most cases, they're not really in a position to take on board the essential parts of Bikeability that enable safe cycling. In a lot of other cases, they're not able to handle their bikes effectively either.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea here and starts some Daily Mail style H&S gone mad rant, these are proffesional decisions made by people with far more experience than myself and made with the safety of children in mind. My own proffesional observations and experiences back up the guidelines.

I take in all the not old enough to effectively train them etc.

but, why should the school make the decisions on cycling in etc. – it should be [is] a parental decision
The schools are meddling by making the choice deliberately difficult

but, why should the school make the decisions on cycling in etc. – it should be [is] a parental decision
The schools are meddling by making the choice deliberately difficult

The schools are worried about litigation should a pupil have an accident. I'm not sure if you should blame the school, the legal profession or society for that.

The schools are worried about litigation should a pupil have an accident

How is it different if a kid walked/ran/roller-skated in?
it isn't – if that really is the reason it's a pretty tenuous link

I'm sorry but I'm really struggling to figure out how the school could even think that they could somehow be held responsible for kids on their way to school
Where does their exposure to litigation start? when the kid leaves home?

I blame the ambulance chasers/channel 4 😉

Some interesting points above. However, the net effect of the school's policy is to (as far as they are concerned) ban all cycling to school by any child under the age of 10, which concerns me quite a lot. A child's approach to life, including the role of exercise, is significantly influenced by their early years and it seems to me that encouraging a healthy approach to transport options should be encouraged as early as possible.

I'd be asking to see their cycling policy. At the very least, there should be something about kids being escorted by a responsible adult not having to be 'trained' otherwise the installation of the bike stands was a complete waste of money in the first place. Try to work with them rather than against them and you'll get further, but keep cycling in with your kid in the meantime.

It is pretty sad that schools feel the need to protect themselves in this way (regardless of the potentially negative effect on the kids) but I can understand why they do so.