Dalyellup Primary School opens new bike track on school grounds

Students at Dalyellup Primary School will be able to hone their bike-riding skills and show off new tricks after the school recently opened a new bike track on school grounds. In a bid to improve aerobic fitness and increase bike safety awareness, Dalyellup Primary School deputy principal Brad Snelling collaborated with six cyclists to plan the track and develop it in consultation with some of the school’s Year 6 students. School principal Alex Cameron said the school always strove to find ways to broaden the options for students during break times, as well as to teach students about bike safety and skills. “A lot of students do ride to school,” he said. “The suburb has relatively quiet streets which are conducive to riding to school. “One of our positive behaviour support expectations is ‘safety’, and we regularly reinforce bike safety at assemblies and in class. “Therefore, deputy principal Brad Snelling explored the concept further and, with support from the P&C, Holcim and Geographe Civil, the project was very affordable. “Year 6 students who ride their bikes to school were involved in the design phase and even tested various layouts before the final design was confirmed and work started.” The track also includes jumps and ramps, along with a bank of peppermint trees for riders to weave through. To allow all students to be able to use the track, the school already has some unicycles available for use, and has bought a set of BMX-style bikes that are set to be delivered in the new year. Mr Cameron said the unicycles were already quite popular with the students, and while the school already had a busy physical education program, he said there would be scope to incorporate the bike track into classes in the future.