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Keelonith Primary School ready to ride

Students at Greenvale’s Keelonith Primary School will be ready to ride to school all throughout 2021 thanks to a Ride2School bike education workshop.

More than 150 students, mostly from grades 3 and 4, were taught riding tips and tricks, road safety awareness and how to do quick bike and helmet checks in two separate sessions last week.

The sessions were held after many students got involved in last month’s National Ride2School Day, increasing confidence to help them continue riding into the future. Riding a bike is one of the best ways children can get their 60 minutes of daily exercise, while also being a fun social activity.

As well as helping students health, riding to school can also reduce traffic congestion at drop-off and pick-up times and improves air quality.

Bicycle Network General Manager of Behaviour Change Leyla Asadi said the Ride2School bike education workshops were exciting for the many students who have recently discovered the joy of riding bikes.

“There was a great increased interest in bikes in 2020, followed by a widely participated National Ride2School Day. It was great to help students make riding a lifelong healthy habit,” said Ms Asadi.

Students at Keelonith participating in the bike education workshop.

Riding skills at bike education workshops are taught on a basic obstacle course in the schoolyard, while bike checks include learning how to make sure tyres are pumped up correctly and brakes work well.

While children under the age of 13 can ride off-road on the pavement in Victoria, riding behaviour skills are still taught at Ride2School workshops. This includes signalling before turning, looking around for other people and traffic, riding through roundabouts and giving way. The skills are taught off-road in the school yard.

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