October 29, 2014 11.46 am This story is over 113 months old

Waddington pupils cycle to school with bike club

Bike club: Children in a Lincoln village are enjoying a new after school bike club, aimed at encouraging active travel.

Over 100 pupils from Waddington are cycling to and from their primary school due to an after school bike club.

Waddington All Saints Primary School set up an after-school bike club through the Access LN6 programme to encourage children to bike to school.

The club meets every Monday and Thursday, and is led by Sustrans’ Active Families Officer Kia Hogan, with support from six parent volunteers and four teachers.

There is now a waiting list of 20 children because even more want to take part.

The school received a bike toolkit from Access LN6 to develop the after-school club further and encourage more children to bike to school.

Paul Martin, Headteacher at Waddington All Saints Primary School, said: “The number of children cycling to school has quadrupled from this time last year, due to our new cycling club and the cycle racks are now full to bursting.

“It is really helping the children to improve their well-being and understand the importance of being active and healthy.

“Not only have the children been enjoying learning about staying safe on the roads and developing sustainable travel, but the parents have joined in too. It is a real pleasure to see so many children and adults riding into school together on a daily basis.”

Kia Hogan said: “We’ve been doing bike maintenance, helmet fitting and pumping up tyres as well as basic skills such as stopping, starting, changing gears, riding in a group and obstacle courses. It’s great to see children so enthused about cycling, even in the rain!”

School can find out more about the schemes on offer by contacting the Access LN6 team on 01522 782070 or emailing [email protected].