My kids seem to do pretty much everything in school - someone teaches them swimming, dancing, tennis, plus normal PE.
But, when it comes to learning how to ride a bike, although there is a prescribed curriculum, and a commitment from the council to ensuring that it is delivered to all P6s, it all depends on parent volunteers.
Why?
Cycling isn't just a sport. It's also life-skill. It will help them get to their sports practices, their summer jobs, and to lectures at uni. It helps us remain healthier as individuals and as a population. It keeps our environment in better shape, and reduces congestion on the roads.
But it's not important enough for schools to actually pay trained professionals to deliver this training to our kids. I'm sure the volunteers are great, but it also means very uneven implementation - and that's before we even get to the schools that ban kids from riding their bikes to school so that they can learn how to ride their bikes....
So why is cycling the one sport/activity (as far as I can tell) that schools are expected to deliver in class time, but through volunteers?
1 comment:
Great post Sara - wouldn't it be great if every child got access to a bike to learn to ride at school.
Of course, what we really need is safe routes for them to cycle to school too......
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