As one of nine pilot Active Travel Ambassador (ATA) schools across the East Riding, students are benefitting from working in partnership with The Bikeability Trust, the charity responsible for delivering the national cycle training programme in England, and Modeshift - a national organisation that supports schools and businesses to create effective travel plans and recognises excellence in encouraging active travel.

The project is being coordinated by East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s sustainable transport team who, over the past year, have been working closely with both the high school and the neighbouring Withernsea Primary School to engage with staff and students through a variety of behavioural change and road safety initiatives.

At its most basic level, active travel is simply the means of moving about in a way that makes people more physically active, such as walking, cycling or scootering. This, in turn, helps to promote a shift away from local car journeys and a move to healthier and more environmentally friendly travel.

The promotion of active travel has become a nationwide priority for the benefits that it brings in terms of improved public health, better air quality, increased road safety and reduced carbon emissions.    

Thanks to its participation in the ATA scheme, Withernsea High School’s wider school community has already benefited from the launch of a bike library, which sees refurbished cycles loaned out for free to students.

In addition, there have also been free cycle helmet amnesties, swapping old for new, and handouts of free cycle lights and locks to promote safety, security and visibility.

Opportunities to attend cycle maintenance courses, where students can learn basic repairs, are also being offered – as are ‘Dr Bike’ clinics where students’ bikes are safety-checked and, where possible, repaired to further help address some of the initial barriers to safe cycling.

The trial ATA programme, delivered by Modeshift and closely supported by the council, has recruited a team of Active Travel Ambassadors made up of students across a variety of year groups. These students have the opportunity to enhance and develop their personal skills while looking to address travel or road safety issues at the school.

A key part of the programme is that all ATA Ambassadors complete their Bikeability Level 3 training. Through its cycle training programme, The Bikeability Trust aims to get more people cycling, more safely and more often, by equipping them with the practical skills and understanding of how to cycle on today’s roads. The Level 3 training delivers advanced skills including the handling of more complex situations – including busier roads and those with more complicated layouts and junctions. It also teaches participants how to respond confidently when a situation changes, for example if a vehicle pulls out in front of them. 

During a recent day of activities, designed to give prominence to active travel and highlight the on-going work between the school and its various travel partners, the school’s travel ambassadors took part in their Bikeability Level 3 training around Withernsea before returning to school to attend their third Active Travel meeting.

Supported by Modeshift, the current focus of these meetings is to help students create an effective campaign to encourage sustainable travel, before bidding for funding in a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to industry experts. This is set to take place next month in Beverley, with students working on their proposal to create an ‘Active Travel Map’ to help promote safe routes to and from school.

In addition to these activities, small groups of students from Years 7 to 9 enjoyed a bike workshop which taught them about basic bike maintenance. This was followed by another successful helmet amnesty and lights giveaway for the school’s young cyclists. 

Nick Richmond, ​​School Sports Coordinator and Teacher of PE at Withernsea High School, said: “It has been great to see this cycling project come to life, with lots of partners coming together in Withernsea to improve active travel and offer amazing opportunities for our young people.

Our recent cycling activity day was a fantastic opportunity to highlight how much progress has been made with cycling provision in Withernsea since we first started building relationships with our external partners, such as the East Riding Road Safety Team, Modeshift and R-evolution, in September 2022.”

Reflecting on the wider impact of this work, Nick, who is also a Children & Young People's Physical Activity Co-ordinator at Active Withernsea, added: “The students have responded really well to our active travel programme. Since the launch of our bike library, and thanks to initiatives such as the helmet amnesties and free locks and lights give-aways, we have seen an increase in students cycling to school.

Through this continuing work, we aim to encourage and enthuse young people to become more active for a greener environment and the health benefits that increased activity can bring.”

Christian Jordan, Assistant Road Safety Officer from East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “We are very excited to be working with Withernsea High School, and in close partnership with Modeshift, to deliver the ATA programme.

We hope the incredible work carried out so far, and the exciting plans for the future, create a real behavioural change on the home-to-school journey. 

We are extremely proud to have nine Active Travel Ambassadors in place across East Riding secondary schools in this exciting trial programme designed to empower schools from within.”

Emily Cherry, CEO of The Bikeability Trust added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Modeshift Active Travel Ambassadors to help create a more active and sustainable future for schools across the country. Cycling and walking are not only good for the environment and our health, but also provide a convenient and affordable mode of transportation.

When used as part of a holistic programme like the Active Travel Ambassadors, Bikeability cycle training is incredibly effective at giving pupils the skills and confidence they need to ride on the roads and cycle to school.”

Emily Sykes, Active Travel Ambassadors Programme Manager said: “By working in partnership with the Bikeability Trust and with the fantastic support of East Riding Council, the Active Travel Ambassador programme has been a great success at Withernsea High School.

The Ambassadors involved have embraced the opportunity to have their voice heard and are committed to making a positive impact in their school community, making people think differently about how they choose to travel. They are working incredibly hard to promote the benefits of walking, cycling and wheeling, acting as active travel role models to their friends and peers and leaving a legacy in their school community.”

Meanwhile, the promotion of cycling and active travel as whole will continue throughout the remainder of this academic year and beyond with a continuing series of activities designed to educate and inspire. Later this month, the school will be visited by the ‘Smoothie Bike’ – a pedal-powered means of blending fruit to make fresh fruit smoothies. In June, a further Dr Bike maintenance session will take place which will also include an opportunity for bikes to be security marked by Humberside Police.

Long term, it is planned that its continued partnership working will enable the school to build a collection of shared cycle resources that could help the school become one of the first in the country to add cycling to the curriculum as part of PE lessons. 

For further information about Bikeability training for children and adults, please visit: www.bikeability.org.uk 

ABOVE: Students received cycle maintenance training.

ABOVE: The school’s Active Travel Ambassadors took part in a Bikeability Level 3 training session around Withernsea.

ABOVE: The training included a focus on junctions and road layouts

ABOVE: Coping with busier traffic was also an element of the Level 3 training.