Ride to walk to school is a school curriculum program from the ACT Government. The website has material to download for teachers, students, parents, and families. The Ride to walk to school program was implemented by the Physical Activity Foundation until December 2021. The future of the program is now unclear and pending further information from the Transport Minister.
Transport Canberra
A health initiative in ACT schools.
“Ride or Walk to School provides ACT schools with access to Australian curriculum aligned resources to teach safe cycling, teacher training and parental engagement materials to help the whole school community embrace riding and walking to school.”
“This online resource has tips and information to get families riding and walking to school.”
More here. This video is from the Bicycle Network.
The online training is not suitable for phones. The ACT Government website is old and clunky, and notorious for dead links. The ACT website is certainly not written for primary school children. An age appropriate app would be better.
Physical Activity Foundation
The Physical Activity Foundation runs the ACT ride to school program. Schools are not resourced for this sort of thing. Bikes, for example, are not something schools would own. Clearly, a child can only learn to ride on a bike. Not every family may be able to afford the bike. Schools hire instruments but not bikes. Here is how it is done.
“In the 1970’s 80% of all school children rode or walked to school but now more than two-thirds go by car. “
“The Physical Activity Foundation is a registered Health Promotion Charity based in the ACT and our goal is to reduce the incidence of sedentary lifestyle diseases in children.”
About Us, Physical Activity Foundation
“The Ride or Walk to School program is designed to drive culture change within the school community to once again, make riding and walking to school the norm for our kids.”
Ride or Walk to School, Physical Activity Foundation
The program
The program is designed for schools.
“The program includes:
– Free access to a set of hire bikes for 5 weeks
– Free access to the Australian Curriculum aligned online Safe Cycle classroom program for students to learn about bike safety and skills
– Resources and support to run four active travel events in your school each year
– Personalised maps to show the best route to your school (see below)
– Support from a dedicated program manager.It is easy to sign up! All you need to get started is approval from your school’s Principal and by nominating a teacher coordinator at your school.”
Ride or Walk to School, Physical Activity Foundation
Personalised maps
Part of the program is getting kids to plan how they get to school. “Part-way drop-off” is park and ride for kids. So many kids do not go to school locally that for some driving may be necessary. The”best” school always seems to be far away from home. This is particularly true for private schools.
“Schools who are engaged in the program receive a tailored digital walking and riding map showing safe routes and part-way drop-off points.”
Ride or Walk to School, Physical Activity Foundation
canberra.bike 