National Ride To School Day 2020

On March, 13th, 2020 Lakelands Primary school celebrated National Ride To School Day in style. Leading up to the day there were many preparations behind the scenes to ensure the day would run smoothly. All throughout week 6 students were reminded to dress up their bike and scooters on Friday. Teachers had communicated this to our families in a number of ways such as communication boards, communication apps, our school's social media page, emails and whole school text messages. On Wednesday 11th at our junior assembly, Mrs Ham spoke to the school about National Ride To School Day and encouraged students to dust off their bikes and scooters and dress them to go into the running to win some fabulous Your Move prizes.

Needless to say the students were buzzing with excitement leading up to the day. To ensure the day would run smoothly a team meeting was also held to communicate the jobs that needed to be done on the day of the event. Jobs included- setting up the decorations and posters, handing out of stickers and tattoos, taking photos, helping students park their bike in the correct locations and hands up surveys. Everyone in the team selected a job that they would be responsible for in both the main school racks and our ECE bike racks.

On Friday the 13th the day was finally here where we arrived at school early and got straight to work. Mrs Ham and Miss Veroni spent the morning decorating the bike racks by placing up our balloon banner, posters and bike rack labels (Our school cleaner also contributed to help put up the decorations to ensure they would not blow away). The bike racks were ready and the school gates were starting to become congested with a number of dressed-up bikes and scooters. Everyone took their places as the gates were opened to the school and students flooded in with their amazingly dressed up bike and scooters. There were bikes dressed as dinosaurs, flamingoes, peacocks, butterflies and much, much more. The students had unleashed their creativity to a high standard making judging very hard. Our bike racks went from empty to being at full capacity.

Students were also excited to receive little goodies such as stickers and tattoos. We even had a photo area to have your picture taken with your bike. After the siren went to begin the day, the bike racks were left unlock for classes to come around during the day and have a look at all the bikes. During lunchtime Mrs Ham headed over to the bike racks where the judging began.

The following were the winners for Best Dressed Bikes 2020: K-PP Jai Russell with his construction themed bike, Year 1-2 Chase Johnston with his ET bike design, Year 3-4 Mia Mcdonald who created a magnificent peacock, Year 5-6 Hudson Shore who turned his scooters into a slashed character. Congratulations to all the winners - your designs were outstanding. Each winner received a Your Move backpack, Your Move hand towel, slap band, badge, Your Move drink bottle and a book about riding or walking to school.

Just before recess our winners were announced over the PA , then they met Mrs Ham at the bike racks to have their photos taken with their entries and prizes. Throughout the day we also conducted another hands up survey which we compared with our first hands up survey for this year. Here is what we found - 37% decrease in students choosing the car, 12% decrease in public transport, 19% increase in walking and a whopping 277% increase in choosing the bike or scooter to school. At the end of the day, our admin team took their posts at the racks to ensure the smooth transition of bikes and scooters from the racks to the outside school footpaths. Students conducted themselves with great responsibility by walking their bikes and scooters in a respectful manner to the school perimeters. To follow up the day our classroom teacher will also be recapping bike safety at our next values assemblies. We will also be congratulating our winners in our Your Move newsletter column.