Cycle Friendly School Award
Priorsford Pupils Bag Award for Pushing Pedal Power in Peebles
Pupils at Priorsford Primary are among the greenest eco-travellers in the country thanks to the commitment of teaching staff to make the school ‘cycle friendly’.
The Peebles primary school was awarded Cycling Scotland’s Cycle Friendly School Award today (8th December). The accolade was awarded to the school in recognition of its commitment to providing cycle training, good quality cycle parking and for encouraging the youngsters to take a healthy and sustainable journey to school.
The efforts of the school staff have paid off, as almost 20% of children cycle to school at Priorsford – nearly 10 times the national average.
Local mountain bike legend Emma Guy, who represented Scotland on the international mountain bike circuit and now jointly runs The Hub in the Forest at Glentress, presented the school with the award.
Although 65 schools across Scotland have now become Cycle Friendly Schools, Priorsford Primary is the first in the Scottish Borders to receive the award. The school blazed a trail for the Borders in terms of cycle promotion by providing on-road cycle training with the local Active School Coordinators, instigating a travel plan identifying the easiest routes for kids to cycle, and making sure there is secure bike and scooter storage in the playground.
The schools bike racks are now full to capacity, and more are having to be installed to cope with demand. The school has also hit upon an innovative way to encourage the early years pupils to make an active journey to school. Children too young to have undergone cycle training are now encouraged to travel to school on scooters, providing the perfect transition to prepare the children to become the cyclists of the near future.
Headteacher Sandra Macgregor commented on the school’s success at encouraging sustainable travel, saying: ”At Priorsford we actively promote cycling as a safe and healthy way to travel to and from school and we are delighted that so many of our pupils, parents and staff take this opportunity to do so every day. With further initiatives planned, we will be continuing to work with the local community to ensure that the routes around Priorsford are safe to cycle, walk and scooter to school.”
Chris Johnson, who manages the Cycle Friendly School programme for national cycling promotion organisation Cycling Scotland, was greatly impressed by the school’s achievements, commenting: “Priorsford Primary has really set a brilliant example to other schools in the Borders with the great work they have done promoting cycling to pupils. Getting 20% of the kids on their bikes on a regular basis is an amazing achievement. The biggest congratulations should obviously go to the children themselves though, as they are the ones choosing to make a healthy and sustainable journey to school each day – keep up the good work!”
The initiative has been backed by local environmental group Tweedgreen, an organisation of local people working towards a self-sustaining Tweeddale. Project Coordinator Isabelle Clements commented: “Cycling Scotland has been working with Peebles based environmental group Tweedgreen to identify schools in the Borders eligible for the Cycle Friendly School Award. Tweedgreen encourages the local community to choose low impact travel where possible, by promoting active travel and liftsharing. Tweedgreen hopes that other schools in the Borders will follow the example set by Priorsford Primary School, helping the community to become fitter, healthier and greener”.
To find out how to become a Cycle Friendly School, visit the Cycling Scotland website at www.cyclingscotland.org for an online guide.