Teachers, staff and volunteers from schools across South Lanarkshire have been taking part in the new Bikeability Scotland cycle training.
The new training covers the rules of the road, bicycle maintenance, road positioning, cycle helmets, visibility and safe and responsible cycling.
Bikeability Scotland level one is aimed at primary five but is also suitable for use with other age groups. The training focuses on basic cycle control skills with an adaptable game centered fun approach and is delivered in the playground.
Bikeability Scotland level two is aligned to primary six or seven. This is the core level which includes starting and ending a journey, road positioning, making left and right turns, u turns and overtaking.
Bikeability Scotland training is delivered with the participation of nominated teachers and school staff, volunteers, pupils, parents and the council’s traffic and transportation section.
Each level can be delivered as a stand alone course or together, with a badge and certificate awarded to pupils for completing each programme.
A training course for instructors was recently held at Chatelherault Country Park. The skills learned by the teachers, staff and volunteers who participated will allow them to deliver the training to their pupils. Teachers were introduced to the teaching materials for Bikeability levels one and two.
Councillor Graham Simpson, chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Road Safety Forum, said: “This course was vital as the teachers, staff and volunteers will be the ones training our school pupils on how to use their cycles safely.
“Learning the correct manoeuvres and procedures will help them become better cyclists, improve how safe they are on the road and enable them to pass this knowledge on.”
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I think it is great that more people are being trained in Bikeability. However this is not a totally new course, just a new name. The majority of the Course is based on the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme which ran for years previous to this and I think it is important that Road Safety Scotland and all the road safety advisers who worked hard to train people and to run the course are given credit for this. They also trained thousands and thousands of children over many years and should be proud of this.
Lucy, Scotland
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