Ride2School on the Road
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The entire Ride2School team recently made its first three-day field trip to visit schools in Warrnambool.
Nicole Wood, Travel Smart officer at Warrnambool council had asked Ride2School for assistance with getting students walking and riding to school in Warrnambool. The Ride2School team decided they would travel to Warrnambool to generate interest by visiting all schools over a three-day period.
Before visiting Warrnambool, there were 12 out of 16 schools registered with Ride2School. Of these, Warrnambool West Primary is the most regular participant in the monthly Hands Up! count, submitting results for most months with a high percentage of active travel – generally higher than 70% of students walking and riding to school.
After Ride2School visits, another two Warrnambool schools registered with the program, and two schools – Warrnambool Secondary College and Warrnambool West Primary – have signed up to be coach schools in Terms 3 & 4.
Visits to the other Warrnambool schools were also productive, with high interest in the Frequent Rider Passport, the 1000 Bikes Student Leadership rewards and Bike Shed Seeding grants.
A fun bike-khana session was held at Warrnambool Primary, with the Mayor of Warrnambool, Cr David Atkinson, and the state member, the Hon. Denis Napthine attending and taking part. Students participated in four different activities involving riding over an obstacle course (including a small see-saw!), a slow bike race, bike maintenance checks and bike limbo.
Ride2School also met with the local council over the three days. Warrnambool Council is very supportive of students walking and riding to school and will now sponsor a Ride2School prize for the school which consistently enters Hands Up! data.
The response by the local media was also fantastic with TV, newspaper and radio items in the week that the team was there. By the time Ride2School left Warrnambool, the whole city must have known of our presence!
Ride2School would like to thank Warrnambool schools, students and council for the warm welcome to the team and the enthusiastic response to the program. We congratulate Warrnambool for its commitment to walking and riding to school, and look forward to hearing more great stories about their progress.
