Our school is staging a course in cycling safety training run by Wild Atlantic Sports for 4th class this term. The course is aligned to Cycle Right, the National Standard for Cycle Safety Training in Ireland, and is delivered by qualified trainers from the national register. The training will prove invaluable to everyone. For those who already cycle to school, the benefits are obvious, but training is just as important for children who cycle only at home and during the holidays. In fact, everyone who will ever get on a bike needs to learn the safety skills required to assess situations on the road and to how to react to them. Also, by teaching children to cycle safely, and by encouraging them to cycle in the course of their daily lives, we are putting in place the habit of exercise.
The course will consist of 5 sessions with the pupils. Topics covered will include: safe equipment; rules of the road; starting and stopping; road positioning; shoulder checking; turning left and right; overtaking and traffic manoeuvres, and, where appropriate to the group, on-road training.
The emphasis of the course is on safety through control of the bike and awareness of surroundings. It will be very beneficial to trainees to have the opportunity to practice between sessions as this will more quickly develop the core bike handling skills needed for cycling on the road.
This year, we are encouraging children to bring their own bikes & helmets if possible. The trainers will have spares of both for any children who can’t bring their own. As usual, children should wear their tracksuit bottoms and runners and bring a raincoat. This will be starting this Friday April 29th and will continue on Friday afternoons – May 6th, May 13th, May 20th and May 27th.
