It’s a green light for Ride2School Day: registrations now open

Maroondah school children are encouraged to embrace a fun and healthy start to their day by riding or walking to school as part of National Ride2School Day on Friday 22 March 2019.

Councillor Samantha Mazzuchelli, one of Council’s representatives on the Maroondah Partners in Community Wellbeing Committee, is inviting schools across the region to register their participation and use the day as a catalyst for promoting the ongoing benefits of a more active and healthy lifestyle.

“The day is Australia’s largest celebration of active travel to school, and it brings significant benefits to participating students, their parents and carers, schools and the wider community,” she said.

Maroondah students made up the almost 390,000 students nationwide who took part in the last year’s event.

Cr Mazzuchelli said students who rode or walked to school were contributing towards their recommended minimum one hour of daily physical activity. They were also more focused and ready to learn compared to those who were driven by car. It is important as one in five primary school children and 1 in 4 secondary school adolescents are overweight or obese.

“It’s recommended that children get 60 minutes of physical activity each day to maintain their health, and riding a bike to and from school is an easy and fun way to make sure they are hitting this target. It’s also a great way for parents to spend quality time with their children.

“Plus, riding to school offers countless benefits – children can explore their independence, connect with friends and practice road safety skills and the engage with the environment around them,” she said.

Cr Mazzuchelli said that as well as helping children develop the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to ride or walk to school, the initiative was a great way to counter the decline in walking and cycling.

“Only a few decades ago, being active was simply part of growing up. However, with society’s reliance on cars, time-poor parents, perceptions of safety and a rise in digital technology, being physically active is no longer a way of life for Australian children. Only one in four children walked or cycle to school today.” she said.

Schools can complement Ride2School Day by providing Bike Education. Bike Ed instructs and trains students in bicycle skills and develop confidence in children and parents. Bike Ed is proven to helps increase the number of children who cycle to school.

“Our hope is that by getting more schools involved in Ride2School Day and offering Bike Education, this will motivate parents who may not have considered encouraging their children to ride to school, to give it a go together, and start the day with some healthy physical activity, be it riding, scooting, skating or simply walking.

“This is a great opportunity to be active together and reduce commuting costs. Participants don’t have to cycle the whole way, they can ‘park and ride’ instead and connect to one of Maroondah’s many bike and walking paths,” Cr Mazzuchelli said.

To assist with route planning from home to school, check out Council’s online

In 2019, National Ride2school Day is going ‘Back to the 70s’ and is encouraging students to share a photo of themselves riding, or a friend or family member riding a bike ‘back in the day’.

Your photo doesn’t have to be from the 1970s, it can be from any era when riding was great and the clothing embarrassing, but there are bonus points if you can incorporate something from the 70s.

Post your photo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or email your entry to be in the running for prizes. All you need to do is tag @Bicycle_Network and add the hashtags #Ride2School and #Back2the70s.

To register your school, visit National the Ride2School website, where you will also find promotional resources and information.