Bikeit School
Sustrans' Bike It project is helping over 100,000 children cycle safely to school, more than tripling the daily cycling levels at its target schools. We received the Bronze Bike It Award in 2010.

We were 1 of 3 schools in Lewisham to become the first Bike It schools in the borough. We worked with our Bike It officer, Felix, to promote cycling. He worked in different year groups promoting and educating the safety of cycling, he spoke and wowed people in assemblies with his stunts and fascination with cycling, he hosted the BikeIt breakfasts, carried our DrBike surgeries for people who needed their bikes fixed, provided cycle training sessions for groups of people, individual children who needed extra support and members of staff and he also held competitions. He even helped as the lead cycling instructor during our Cycle Picnic day where the pupils cycled to Peckham Rye Park and had a healthy picnic.

We would like to thank Felix and Sustrans for believing in Edmund Waller and helping us reach our environmental goals.

To read about cycling at the Winter Fair, click here.

To read about our Cycle Picnic, click here.

School Travel Plan
In 2005, we created a School Travel Plan to outline our unique set of travel issues that were raised by the school and the stakeholders.  We revise our School Travel Plan annually and have created a new School Travel Plan in 2010. Since 2005, the percentage of children who walk and ride to school has risen because of the variety of initiatives that have been implemented in the school. With close links with the London Borough of Lewisham, we have introduced ‘Walk on Wednesday’, Cycle Training and as of 2009 we have become a ‘Bikeit School’. We have incorporated the School Travel Plan into the curriculum as part of our PSHE topics.

From the take home surveys and the discussions with children, much of the initiatives stem from parental and pupil concerns.

We are constantly thinking of creative ways to better encourage walking and cycling to school.

Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead

Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead has been one of the successful highlights of the recent years. There has been tremendous improvement in cycling skills and the number of cyclists has risen.

 The idea started from the School Travel Plan survey where over 50% of our pupils said they would prefer to cycle to school. The survey also showed that parents would be more willing to allow their child to cycle to school if there was secure cycling facilities within the gated areas of the school and if their children had cycle training.

The Deputy Headteacher, Karl Bardouille, worked with the Waller Warriors Green Team to put a bid together and bid for funding from the London Cycling Campaign.  The bid was successful and we were awarded the funding. The project was also funded by FRIENDS and Edmund Waller School Services.

Aim
The aims of Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead are:
-to ensure 100% of our children aged 7-11 knowing how to cycle
-to ensure 50% of our children aged 5-7 riding unaided
-to ensure 50% of our children aged 5-7 riding aided with stabilisers and enthused to ride a bike
-to ensure 100% of our children know road safety issues
-to encourage families to cycle and to know the benefits of cycling
-for children and their families to acquire a healthier lifestyle

The objective as set out in the School Travel Plan is:

• To encourage more children and staff to cycle to school and to do so safely and confidently.

A full year has passed and we are proud to say that we are reaching our aims and continue to do so.

Project
Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead is a project aimed at making cycling accessible to all children and to acquire a healthier lifestyle regardless of their socio-economic or cultural background. We wanted to break down the barriers to cycling where people in the community could learn how to cycle and to identify the benefits of cycling. This is an inclusive project that caters for all needs.

Approximately 70 bikes ranging from tricycles to mountain bikes have been bought along with other cycling essentials: helmets, tools, trailers, pumps and high-visibility jackets. Providing a bank of bikes of different sizes was one of the most important parts of the project as we believe every child should have access to cycle training. We also had to buy a large 20ft cycle storage container to store all of the bicycles in which is situated in the playground opposite Cooke Hall.

The children in Year 6 not only receive cycle training through Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead, they receive cycle training provided by the London Borough of Lewisham. During these sessions the children are taken out on the roads in the local area.

Children are also given the opportunity to use tools to fix their bikes. When the bikes first came, the Year 6 children we taught how to fix the kick-stands to the bikes. They did a good job and felt proud at the fact that they were involved in making the bikes a little safer to use.

Loaning Bikes
We intend to run a scheme alongside our two projects where we will ask the Edmund Waller community if they have any bikes that they have outgrown or no longer use. This way we will have a bank of bikes that can be checked by our mechanic and loaned out to children during weekends and/or holiday periods to practise their cycling skills. This will be organised by the Extended Schools Manager.

Funding
Edmund Waller Community would like to say thank you to London Cycling Campaign, The Big Lottery Fund, Friends of Edmund Waller and Edmund Waller School Services who have kindly awarded us with the funds to carry out our two year projects.

Extending Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead
Edmund Waller Cycles Ahead opened its doors for the first time to another school in the summer term. 60 Year 3 children from Myatt Gardens Primary School travelled to Edmund Waller Primary School where they were greeted by Mr Bardouille and Max, the cycling instructors. As there is no other company that provides cycling training to Year 3 children, it was a pleasure to offer this facility.  

With a road painted on our Key Stage 1 playground, the children were taught the safety aspect of cycling as well as indicating, pedalling, looking behind while cycling forward, following the leader (snaking) and braking safely.

The special moments were when:

Every group of cyclists understood the benefits of cycling and the foundation of these sessions hopefully will be with them for the rest of their lives.

Well done Myatt Garden!