Youth bike programme rolls into more schools

Bikes in Schools is reaching out to more educational institutions, including Ruakaka Primary, thanks to additional funding. Photo / Supplied

Each day at Ruakaka School, students can be seen jubilantly zooming around a gravel track on a shiny new bikes provided by a local charitable trust that has come up with the perfect solution to purge primary schoolers of their extra energy while encouraging kiwi kids to live a healthier lifestyle: the Bikes in Schools initiative. And with an additional $600,000 from the Accident Compensation Corporation over the next three years, the program will undoubtedly send more New Zealand school children racing toward the finish line.

By helping to provide educational institutions with bicycles and tracks, Bike On New Zealand's Bikes in Schools initiative offers students a constructive form of recreation during school hours that also encourages safety, fitness and cycling as a sustainable form of transportation.

"We believe-and the research confirms-that enabling children to ride a bike on a regular basis within the school environment generates a wide range of outcomes for the school and their wider community in many different areas including health, fitness, education, transport and safety," says Paul McArdle, founder of Bikes in Schools.

Schools engaged in the initiative receive a package including a helmet for each child, 30 to 50 new bikes, storage facilities and a riding track, as well as cycle safety training. Since Bikes in Schools began in 2010, the program has been implemented in over 30 schools around New Zealand.

Participating institutions include Ruakaka School, which was outfitted with 45 new bikes from Bikes In Schools in March 2014 and installed a track with funding from the town's support group. Children at Ruakaka have responded fantastically to the program, says Principal Marilyn Dunn.

"It's added a whole new dimension to the school-the fitness, the fun involved, the safety aspect, giving kids an alternative way to get around," says Dunn. "They're all sitting on computers these days, so it's nice to see them actually getting out and getting some exercise and enjoying it."

Each class at Ruakaka has a designated time to use the bikes each day, and the track remains open at lunchtime and playtime for all to use. The bikes provide the school's students-years one through six-with a healthy outlet for extra energy and safety skills for cycling outside of class.

"Our students come by bus to school--none of them ride bikes," Dunn says. "They're only riding bikes around on the streets in the village, so it's a good way to teach them some safety if they're out on the bikes in the streets."

Students have spent so much time on the track over the past year that Ruakaka has decided to build a second track: an obstacle course that will offer a challenge for more experienced riders.

"It's just got kids out there doing more things," says Dunn. "We're so lucky. It's a privilege to be part of."

ACC Minister Nikki Kaye praised the innovative program in a statement announcing the additional funding to be awarded to Bikes in Schools.

"Watching these kids tearing up the bike track, you can see how confident they are having learned how to ride a bike properly and safely," says Kaye. "That's a life skill that will serve them well when they play sport, when they learn to drive and in everyday life."

Like what you see? For weekly Element news sign up to our newsletter. We're also on Facebook and Twitter.