Bramfield’s Born to Ride

Thanks to West Cycles and the Department of Transport, we received a $500 grant for Bike Month. It was all systems go on our return from school holidays to organise the events that we had planned in the first week of Term 4.

All Bike Month activities were promoted by the Your Move Action Team (YMAT) through our school newsletter, website, Facebook page, PA announcements, YMAT conversations in the playground with students, leaders at entry gates reminding families, Your Move assembly, and posters around the school.

Friday the 13th October was our big day with lots of events. To kick off Bike Month, the Your Move Action Team organised a healthy breakfast at the "Bramfield Bicycle Breakfast Club Cafe" for all bike riders and their families. It was also open to all our active travellers on the day.

A ‘Decorate Your Spooky Bike / Scooter Competition’ was held and there were 78 creative spooky, scary, and freaky decorated bikes and scooters that lined the front of our undercover area.

The West Cycle representative Sam McGuire and the YMAT parent representative Kristy Walker were our special guest judges. We ended up with 10 winners overall. Each winner received either a new helmet, bike / scooter lock, or pump. The winners were extremely hard to choose as there were so many amazing creations and our goal to encourage more students to ride their scooters or bikes to school that day was well and truly achieved.

We held a Your Move Assembly to promote Bike Month. It included the first viewing of the aerial bike video and launch our new bike shed roof structure.

The assembly was conducted by our Your Move Action Team with Sam Maguire (West Cycles) as our special guest in the last-minute absence of our local MP Chris Tallentire.

The assembly launched our new roof structure for bike shed (funded by Dept of Transport Your Move) and a red ribbon was cut at the bike shed by Sam Maguire.

Classes did lessons to incorporate bike safety as per our school Term 4 Health Curriculum Plan. Year 1s did a whole unit on road safety incorporating activities from SDERA Challenges and Choices Program. Students brainstormed everything that you need to keep safe when riding a bike or scooter.

In Maths, Year 1s looked at time duration and examples of what happens in seconds, minutes, and hours. Students talked about how it could take minutes to ride your bike to school if you lived close but if you were going on a bike ride with your family on the weekend, it could take an hour or more.

Bicycle safety was also explored in History. After reading the story ‘Mulga Bill’s Bicycle’ and watching a you-tube on bicycles in the past, students explored the similarities and differences between the penny farthing and their bicycle today.

Finally, Izzy the dinosaur character was very popular when discussing bike safety with Year 1s. Students drew their helmet and labelled the safety features whilst explaining why a wearing a helmet is important. As part of their health assessment, students had to design a poster with Izzy the dinosaur in the middle and write 4 important road safety messages and why they are important, to tell other Year 1s.

The Year 2 students were also learning about road safety and how to stay safe when on or near the road. The students discussed and brainstormed the different ways of staying safe when being a pedestrian, riding a bike or a scooter, along with how to be safe when inside a vehicle. They separated into groups of 3, selected one of the brainstormed safety tips, and collaborated to create informative posters to display around the school.

Some of the road safety tips included,

• Wear your seatbelt in the car.
• Wear your helmet when riding your bike or scooter.
• Don't play on the road or driveway.
• Be careful around cars on the driveway or road.
• Hold mum or dad's hand (or a trusted adult) when crossing the road.
• Stop, look, listen, and think before you cross the road.
• Use children crossings when crossing the road at school.
• The green man/walk sign means you can cross the road at the lights, but make sure you also look out for cars anyway.

Reflections

• It was the first year applying for the grant, and it was great that we were successful. The YMAT thought they needed to promote the event earlier and have it in a yearly calendar of YM events. It crept up on us this year.
• Every year since starting YM in 2021 we have done a Decorate your Bike / Scooter Competition in Bike Month. This appears to be a very popular event and the YMAT are strict in only entering those riders who rode to school and NOT pulled a bike out of their car to be part of the competition. Riders have increased each year which is fantastic. In 2021 – 47 riders, 2022 – 61 riders and 2023 – 78 riders. Students talk about this activity a lot and we will continue this again next year.
• We didn't get a chance to do an obstacle course as stated in the grant. We had 2 obstacle courses earlier in the year, one for National Ride to School Week (March) and Tour De Bramfield (July). It was probably a bit much to take on so would need to really have this organised in advance if we were to do an obstacle course in Bike Month (October). This was difficult with Bike Month starting in the school holidays, but earlier planning will assist with this.
• The breakfast was amazing, and the cups of fresh fruit was a big hit with all active travellers.
• Having Sam from West Cycles as a judge and attend our assembly was a great opportunity to work with another community organisation as a partner. We would invite a representative from West Cycle and / or Department of Transport YM program in the future.