Across four weeks of June/July 2022, 332 Year 7 Albany Junior High School students took part in the BikeReady Programme funded by Waka Kotahi. BikeReady is New Zealand’s national cycle education system which aims to create a safer cycling network and equip students with the cycle skills to be safe and considerate life-long bike riders.
Students work through 20 learning outcomes over 1.5 days, starting with Grade 1 (2.5 hours). This consists of a helmet bike fit/check and bike control skills, undertaken in their school grounds. They then move on to Grade 2 (6-7 hours) which takes place on quiet local roads and is designed to give the riders real cycling experience to build skills and confidence. A Grade 2 session covers the road code, how to see and be seen, communication, road positioning and cooperating with other road users.
Students are grouped according to ability and their own self rated confidence level, with no one missing out. Harbour Sport’s inclusive programme pays particular attention to ensuring students who cannot ride or have specific needs are catered for by providing one-on-one coaching. On occasion we have tamariki that haven’t ridden a bike or aren’t confident due to a lack of exposure to real riding conditions.
At the last session, cycle Instructor Dave Catherwood worked with three non-riders and over the 1.5 days got all three students riding confidently. Non-riders are kept within the school grounds as we start from the beginning, how to mount the bike, how to glide (balance while moving), how to pedal and how to stop safely.
The improvement in confidence following BikeReady training is always outstanding, 93% of students who cycled out on the road rated themselves as increased confidence for on-road riding after taking part in the programme in 2022.
Most importantly, the students love the experience due to the instructors being enthusiastic and providing a fun learning environment.
During the training, three of the Harbour Sport instructors were qualified with a New Zealand Certificate in Cycle Skills Instruction, demonstrating Harbour Sport’s commitment to quality delivery and ongoing upskilling of our instructors.
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