Rockbank Primary school pupils will join more than 350,000 students across the nation who will ride, walk, scoot and skate to school on National Ride2School Day on Friday, March 24.
National Ride2School Day is Australia’s biggest celebration of active travel and the peak of the nationwide Ride2School program which works to help children get their 60 minutes of daily exercise by riding a bike to school.
Bicycle Network chief executive Alison McCormack said that National Ride2School Day is a day full of fun and colour where students, teachers and parents discover the joy of riding and kick-start healthy habits for the future.
“Riding to school can help students perform better in the classroom. Students who actively travel to school are more awake and alert. Their concentration levels and understanding of content improves,” she said.
National Ride2School Day is a free event open to all primary and secondary schools in Australia. Schools that register have access to a range of resources to help them celebrate the day, including posters, promotional material, stickers and count sheets to tally the number of students who ride to school.
Rockbank Primary School’s Carly Lehane said: “There are many benefits of riding to school including daily exercise that is so important in this modern day where students are on devices for long periods of time.
“My advice to parents is that children need to get out on their bikes more. If it means riding to and from school, please support your child to do so”.
“Practise the route with them and teach them the traffic hazards to look out for on the way. Teach them important traffic and bicycle safety skills and messages. Check that their bikes are safe to ride and that they have properly fitted helmets”.
Liam McNally
