Withernsea High School

A training day on 19^th March included a carousel of workshops, offering valuable learning experiences for the Board's members. The day featured a physical literacy workshop, a bike repair and active travel review session with Christian Jordan from the East Riding Road Safety team, a session on coastal erosion, and a workshop on inclusion facilitated by John Blades, the school’s ERP lead.

Since Christmas, various ambassador groups have been actively involved in school events. The sports ambassadors supported a number of primary school activities, including a swimming gala, sports hall athletics, intra boccia and a tennis tournament.

The careers and active travel ambassadors have continued their ongoing projects. For the careers ambassadors, this included a guest spot at a 'student voice' event where they lent their voices to help shape careers provision at schools across the region. Meanwhile, the active travel ambassadors delivered a pitch at County Hall to secure further funding for their sustainable travel plans.  

The Youth Health Champions, in collaboration with Public Health England, met with professionals to represent the student voice for a new mental health website tailored for young people, which will launch soon.

The student council ambassadors have been instrumental in addressing student feedback which has led to several improvements, including increased variety in sports competition entries, such as archery and a swimming gala, and contributions to refining the school’s behaviour and uniform policies.

The Board for Change comprises student representatives from each year group along with ambassadors from sub-groups focusing on Health, Careers, Active Travel, and Sport. Collectively, they play a key role in driving significant initiatives to improve student life at the school.

These students are not only passionate about leading change in the areas they specialise in, they are also role models and a point of contact for fellow students – building an effective communication link between the student body and the staff.

ABOVE: Board members engage in the training event. 

ABOVE: The training equipped students with a variety of knowledge and skills. 

ABOVE: Workshops took place throughout the day. 

ABOVE: A bike repair and active travel review session was led by Christian Jordan from the East Riding Road Safety team.

Through the use of tablet technology, using pre-loaded videos featuring 360-degree views from a cyclist’s perspective, immersive reality cycle training allows classes of up to 30 students at a time to experience what it’s like to cycle on the road, without stepping outside the comfort of their classrooms. The training, delivered by East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s road safety team, aims to enthuse young people about the benefits of cycling - encouraging more journeys by bike while preparing them for on-road experiences. It encompasses all levels of knowledge, from those who have no prior practise on the roads, to those who have previously completed Bikeability, the government’s national cycle training programme, at levels 1 and 2. The project has so far been delivered in 14 secondary schools across the county. Among them is Withernsea High School, where the full year 8 cohort, approximately 150 students, recently took part in the training over two days. Nick Richmond, a teacher of PE who oversees the school’s Active Travel projects, said: “The students fully engaged with the immersive reality experience, with many commenting how realistic they felt it was. The videos provided them with an opportunity to spot, assess and navigate hazards faced by cyclists – preparing them for the real-life scenarios that they may face on the roads. “This virtual approach reinforces the knowledge that children have learnt in Bikeability training. When out on the roads, the ratio is usually one tutor to three riders for level 3 training. With the virtual training, one or two tutors can support a full class of approximately 30 students. Although it will never fully replicate or replace the practical experience of being physically out on the road, it is a great introduction to Bikeability training which students can carry forward into practical experience.” Reflecting on the impact of immersive reality training, Julie Turrell, road safety and sustainable travel manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: "Children are excited about using the immersive reality technology on the tablets, especially Year 7. They are engaged throughout the session and the videos have prompted some excellent discussions about situations they may not have experienced before. We have delivered the session in many secondary schools across the East Riding, and in total we should reach over 2,500 students." Since 2023, Withernsea High School has been one of a number of schools across the East Riding that has recruited ambassadors to help promote Active Travel across the school community. As part of their role, the ambassadors are required to complete their level 3 Bikeability training – a more advanced level of training, aimed at students aged 11 and above. Bikeability helps participants to learn practical skills and understand how to cycle safely. In the East Riding, level 1 and 2 training is delivered to pupils in years 5 and 6 over two days.  Level 1 learning teaches children how to control their bikes – including setting off, cruising, slowing down, navigating obstacles, braking and stopping. It also teaches basic awareness, encouraging them to be aware of their surroundings. Level 2 takes their learning on-road where they are taught how to negotiate quiet junctions, crossroads and roundabouts, while developing an understanding of signals, signs and road markings. 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. Immersive cycle training is the latest addition to a continuing programme of activities designed to encourage and support safe and sustainable travel for young people in the Withernsea High School community. In recent months cycling has received increased prominence after it was added to the PE curriculum – making the school one of the first in the country to regularly offer cycling as part of timetabled lessons. This was achieved thanks to funding secured from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Sustainable Travel Team and Sport England which facilitated the purchase of 25 mountain bikes, plus associated secure storage facilities. To date, every student in the school’s current year 7 and 8 cohorts has received at least one opportunity to cycle as part of their PE curriculum. Students have also been given opportunities to use the bikes as part an extra-curricular cycling club. In addition, trained technicians from cycle charity R-evolution have provided free bike servicing – carrying out repairs ranging from brake and gear improvements to basic tyre inflation for the school’s regular cyclists. Lights and locks giveaways, by the sustainable travel team at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, have helped to ensure bikes remain visible and secure, while helmet amnesties have seen the replacement of old and potentially dangerous cycle helmets with brand new ones. Helmets have also been distributed to students arriving at school by bike who were seen to be not wearing one.  

The money will be used to fund prizes and rewards to recognise those who make the switch to healthier and more environmentally friendly means of commuting to and from school. Car sharing and the concept of ‘park and stride’, which involves driving part way and walking the rest of the journey, are among the initiatives being encouraged.

The ambassadors pitched their ideas to a panel of experts including members of the East Riding Road Safety team, Emily Cherry, chief executive of cycling charity the Bikeability Trust, Gavin Wood, an inspector with Active Travel England, and Rob Atkin – project coordinator at walking charity, Living Streets.

The core idea of the pitch was the continuation of the school’s annual Active Travel Day – a focussed day of incentives and activities which, since 2023, has aimed to reduce traffic congestion around the school gates and helped to promote the health and well-being benefits of travelling more actively.  

To encourage participation, all those who make a concerted effort to travel more sustainably for the day will be given a raffle ticket for automatic entry into a prize draw. Last year, over 200 participants were rewarded for their efforts - winning a wide range of prizes from skateboards to scooters and footballs to swim vouchers.

Among new incentives pitched for the current academic year are a ‘golden lock’ prize giveaway, which will reward regular cyclists with prizes every half term, and the launch of an Active Travel newsletter to celebrate the work of the ambassadors and promote sustainable travel tips. 

Overseeing the work of the travel ambassadors is Nick Richmond, ​​Teacher of PE and leader of the school’s student-led Board for Change, who said: “Our Active Travel Ambassadors are incredible advocates for both sustainable travel and for our school. They delivered their presentation exceptionally well and impressed the panel, not only with their confident pitch but with their reflections on their work so far and how this is shaping their future plans.

“Our ambassadors spent a considerable amount of time preparing for their pitch and have been rewarded for their efforts by securing £450 to help make their ideas a reality. Under the banner of our Board for Change, our Active Travel Ambassadors remain part of a bigger student-led campaign to bring meaningful change to their school. I am very proud of them all.”  

Since 2023, the ambassadors have collectively secured £1,920 from organisations including sustainable travel champions, Modeshift, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and Active Withernsea, to help fund their mission to promote active travel.

ABOVE: The school's Active Travel Ambassadors, pictured at County Hall, Beverley, where they successfully secured £450 towards the promotion of Active Travel at the school. Pictured with the students are members of the judging panel (back left to right): Emily Cherry from the Bikeability Trust, Rob Atkin from Living Streets, Gavin Wood from Active Travel England, and presenter David Eliot from Histrionics.

BELOW: The ambassadors make themselves at home in the council's chambers...