The students recently joined members of the East Riding Road Safety Team and Modeshift – the UK’s leading sustainable travel organisation – for a day of cycling at Dalby Forest.

Accompanying the students was Mr Richmond, ​​School Sports Coordinator and Teacher of PE, who said: “This trip was to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of those involved, as members of our weekly cycling club, or as one of our Active Travel ambassadors.

It was a pleasure to reward our students with this opportunity, allowing them to use their cycling skills in a different context. For the majority of the group, it was the first time they had been given an opportunity to cycle on proper mountain biking terrain. Both this, and the surrounding scenery of the North York Moors, really enthused the group and made for an exciting day out.”

Throughout the morning, the group participated in a training session which involved learning and employing new mountain biking skills in preparation for them to complete the forest’s Jubilee Blue route in the afternoon.

Starting with a challenging climb, this singletrack, moderate-ability route delivers amazing views across the valley to Low Dalby. Advertised as an ‘adventurous route with off-road section’, the Blue trail offers flowing berms (banked corners) and rollers (humps), with a fun downhill run to the finish.   

Ahead of the afternoon’s cycling adventure, all students were assessed by qualified mountain bike coaches from the Road Safety Team to ensure that they were fully equipped and confident to hit the six-mile trail.   

Reflecting on the success of the day’s activities, Mr Richmond, who is also a Children & Young People's Physical Activity Co-ordinator at Active Withernsea, added: “The students did themselves, and the school, proud. It was a fantastic experience which saw them tackling the Blue route with confidence and determination to complete the assigned course. Such was the success of this trip, with positive feedback all round from the students, that we are hoping to offer a similar opportunity in the Spring term.”

Christian Jordan, Assistant Road Safety Officer with the East Riding Road Safety Team, said: “A day out mountain biking seemed like a fitting reward for everyone involved after all the hard work and commitment shown by the students, and we are looking forward to expanding upon this in the future.

The Road Safety Team hired some excellent mountain bikes for the event, supplied riders with helmets, a free pair of quality gloves and a water bottle as a reminder of their day.

This is all part of the great work the school are doing in partnership with the Road Safety Team, Active Withernsea and Modeshift. Together, we have been working hard to grow cycling as a means of empowering pupils with active transport, improving their fitness and well-being, while also helping them to realise that cycling can be a very useful tool when getting to and from school and in the future, their place of work.”

The rewards trip followed a year of hard work at the school for the Active Travel ambassadors who, through a series of activities and engagement opportunities, have been empowered to develop their own active travel plan for the school, with the support of national charities and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

In April, the group collectively impressed a panel of judges during a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to industry experts at County Hall, Beverley, to secure £1,000 towards their campaign to encourage sustainable travel

Supported by Modeshift, who help schools and businesses to create effective travel plans, the ambassadors put a considerable amount of work into their campaign over a number of weeks. Its prime focus was the need to boost Active Travel through safer cycling and walking routes to and from school, and the further promotion of healthier lifestyles and environmental considerations.  

The judging panel, which included Councillor John Whittle (Chair of East Riding of Yorkshire Council), Emily Cherry (CEO of the Bikeability Trust) and Jennifer Wiles (Head of Behavioural Change Programmes at Active Travel England) gave the students some outstanding feedback and were particularly impressed by  their ideas surrounding sustainability, as well as their future plans to link closely with local primary schools.

At its most basic level, Active Travel is simply the promotion of walking, cycling or wheeling as a means of boosting fitness and reducing the number of journeys by car. This, in turn, helps to promote a shift towards healthier and more environmentally friendly travel.

As one of nine pilot Active Travel Ambassador (ATA) schools across the East Riding, students at Withernsea High School continue to benefit from working in partnership with The Bikeability Trust, the charity responsible for delivering the national cycle training programme in England, and Modeshift.

The ATA 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 its neighbouring primary school to engage with staff and students through a variety of behavioural change and road safety initiatives.

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.

Reflecting on the wider impact of this work, Mr Richmond 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.”

Meanwhile, a weekly cycling club has continued into the new academic year – offering participants an opportunity to extend their cycling knowledge, improve their racing skills and try basic stunt work using ramps and other obstacles. Anyone interested in joining should speak to Mr Richmond, or any member of PE staff.