Bursting Bike Shed at Bramfield Park

WOW what a fantastic National Ride 2 School Day Bramfield Park Primary School had on Friday 22nd March. This was our first big Your Move event in 2024 to kick-start new healthy habits, physical activity and promote the many benefits of active travel like decreasing carbon emissions and reducing the number of cars parked around our school. It was a super windy day here in Maddington compared to previous years. So, we had to adapt a lot of our outside activities.

Planning and Promotion
The YMAT decided to continue the goal of 100 riders for NR2SD this year. Harmony Day was the day before NR2SD, but this did not deter our promotion of the event, ramping up promotional strategies in the afternoon of Harmony Day. Encouraging students to ride, scoot, or skate to reach 100 riders, occurred via several promotional mediums.

• Posters were adapted by YMAT, and they placed them all around the school including the fences near our gates and drop off zones. A well-placed poster created a lot of conversation above the water fountain.
• A brief talk to each class when posters went to their classroom.
• E-Newsletter, school website, Facebook and Connect
• School leaders did PA announcements every day for a week during daily messages.
• School leaders and YM leaders talked to students and parents/carers at entry / exit gates every day leading up to NR2SD.
• YM leaders had ongoing chats in the playground every day and peer word of mouth.
• YM coordinator did a PA announcement just before end of school day on Thursday 21st March when all the families were gathered around outside classrooms so they could also hear the message of NR2SD.

Activities On the Day
We had some fantastic activities on the day for all the students to get involved in. We planned activities this with a focus on helmet wearing.

1. Faction cards and stickers - The YMAT, school leaders and staff handed out faction cards and stickers to those who rode, scooted, or walked to school. If a student rode with a helmet they got 2 faction cards and if they rode, wore a helmet, and decorated it for the competition, then they got 3 faction cards.
2. Obstacle Course – The YMAT trialled an obstacle course last year and due to its success, we did it again this year. Students got to have a bit of fun going around an obstacle course on the basketball court from 8.15am where they got to have full use of those wheels before school started! Despite the strong winds, this was a big hit with everyone, with many parents sharing positive comments as their children rode around.

3. Dress Up Your Easter Helmet Competition – Students got to decorate their helmet in an Easter theme when they rode, scooted, or skated to school! Prizes from the Your Move Rewards shop were up for grabs. Here are some of the winners!

4. Healthy Breakfast – There was a healthy breakfast for all to enjoy. Breakfast Club brought out a tray of yummy warm toasties for all the riders on the obstacle course to enjoy.

5. Scooter Rack outside PP2 classroom – The scooter rack outside the Pre-primary classroom wasn’t being utilised to its full extent. YMAT decided that the first 8 scooters from pre-primary or kindy to place their scooter in the rack, got a free padlock to keen so they can lock up their scooter safely.

6. Bikes and Trikes – Year 1s and 2s were able to ride on the basketball court with the school’s new wheels (bikes, trikes, and scooters with helmets) during the recess and lunch breaks. The YMAT coordinated this activity and the YM coordinator assisted students in wearing helmets correctly.

So how many students did active travel on NR2SD?
Another fantastic National Ride 2 School Day with our new bike shed bursting with 92 bikes and scooters. What an amazing achievement!

When our YMAT did daily bike/scooter checks in our bike shed during Term 1 we had on average 21 bikes / scooters which is an increase on our average in Term 1 last year (14). On NRSD we had 285 students attend school, with 92 students (33%) who either rode a bike or scooter. The school crossing supervisor loved seeing all the riders with their decorated Easter helmets, safely crossing the road. This is a 15% increase in riders compared to our first NR2SD in 2021. Although not quite as many as in 2023, our bike shed was bursting!
2021 - 47 bikes / scooters (18% of total attendance) our first year in YM
2022 - 86 bikes / scooters (38% of total attendance)
2023 - 123 bikes / scooters (43% of total attendance)
2024 – 92 bikes / scooters (33% of total attendance)

Our YMAT goal for the year is to promote helmet usage it was encouraging to see an overwhelming 97% of our riders/scooters wore a helmet. What an achievement!!!

In our Classrooms
It was great to see some curriculum-based work being integrated into the classroom to promote safe active travel.

Pre-primary
A Pre-primary class did a hands up survey and tallied the number of active travel participants in their class. They also did an amazing collage where each child placed themselves riding to our school.

Another class had a class discussion about the positives of riding to school and the safety around wearing a helmet. The children did the Ride2School Colouring-in.

Year 1s
Year 1s got to draw their own dream bike. Such a great idea.

Years 1/2
This class had a great day exploring bike safety by
• Watching a bike safety video
• brainstorming different ways to be safe on a bike
• creating a bike riding craft
• students choosing one of our brainstorm points to write a bike safety sentence on
• students presenting their safety tip to the class.

Year 2s
A Year 2 class began their day with a Hands Up Tally. They looked at who rode to school on a bike, scooter, or skateboard and who walked or drove to school. The students who put their hands up for riding to school, all rode their bikes and wore a decorated helmet. The class also coloured in a NR2SD Posters.

Another Year 2 class had a discussion on riding bikes safely followed by a quiz and designing a poster.

Year 3s
In Maths Year 3s discussed the importance of numbers all around us and the different strategies they could use to add up the number of bikes and scooters to get the total numbers of riders. During Maths lessons the Year 3s counted the bikes and scooters every day for a week leading up to NR2SD and worked out the average. They also predicated the number of riders on NR2SD. After counting on NR2SD the students had to add up the bikes and scooters to get a total number. We looked at all the different ways we could do this. It was a great opportunity to see the Year 3s apply their knowledge of what they have learnt so far in Maths in a fun and engaging way with active travel.

They also did the NR2SD Find a Word Search which was for early finishers at the end of the literacy block.

Year 1s and Year 3s – Buddy Class
A year 3 class took the opportunity to be a buddy class to the Year 1s. As the Year 3s have completed 2 years of Constable Care Road Safety and with guidance from the Your Move Coordinator, they were able to be peer educators to the Year 1s. They taught them how to wear a helmet properly and guided them on the trikes, bikes, and scooters around the obstacle course safely.

Year 4s
Year 4s found their own bike safety word search to begin their morning. The teacher then gave them a little quiz via Blooket about bicycle safety. Whilst a competitive quiz, it gave the teacher an insight into the knowledge of his class prior to them doing bicycle education lessons later in the year.

Year 5s
Year 5s conducted a range of curriculum activities to investigate what makes a good board game (reading, maths probability, writing). The created board games with a cycling theme using the STEM process. In the afternoon students played the games and provided feedback to the creators.

Reflection
YMAT had a meeting to reflect on NR2SD. These were our discussion points.
• Ultimately, we were so impressed with the number of students who rode and wore a helmet to school.
• Along with YMAT, we had several enthusiastic students and staff who assisted on the day.
• We almost reached our goal of 100 bikes and scooters for this year and increased numbers substantially compared to 2021 our first year but not quite as big as last year.
• The obstacle course before school was a big hit again this year with the students and families. The strong winds were in competition with us setting up. YMAT would like to do it again next year along with a competition, possibly slow bike races and music, depending on the weather.
• Based on last year’s reflection where not a lot of food was eaten at Breakfast Club due to the obstacle course, we consulted with the Coordinator, our Chaplain, who suggested we take a tray of warm toasties out to the obstacle course for riders to eat. This was a great suggestion, and our riders loved the warm toasties on a windy, cool day.
• The helmet competition was the talk of the day with so many students getting involved and seeing 97% of our riders/scooters wearing a helmet.
• Last year not many classes integrated safe active travel into curriculum-based activities as in previous years possibly due to Harmony Day being the day before. We were ready for this in our planning as Harmony Day was still the day before and we had the senior summer carnival on the day as well. During each Teacher Professional Learning Teams Meeting, an item on the agenda included ‘What are you doing to contribute to NR2SD?’ This certainly helped to increase the interest along with the email that was sent out by the YMAT Coordinator to all staff highlighting different activities that could be incorporated. All staff who contributed to NR2SD in their classrooms received a Your Move pen. So many amazing activities happened this year – well done everyone!

• We were happy with the level of promotion and YMAT enjoyed being active travel leaders and peer educators.
• This year to date (Term 1) our daily average is 21 bike /scooters riders. We know after seeing 92 bikes/scooters on NR2SD, that students do have wheels to ride to school. We discussed this and are now working towards planning some more strategies to increase our average numbers during the year.
• As part of the meeting, YMAT completed the Bicycle Network survey for NR2SD and the West Cycles Ride to School Day WA survey.

• A big thank you to our parent representative who washed all our Your Move shirts for us.

It’s great to see this event create awareness raising opportunities for active travel to school. Looking forward to NR2SD 2025 at Bramfield Park Primary School.

Until next year.....