December update and a festive thank you

It’s been another great year here at Bikeability and as we head towards Christmas, I wanted to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of the Bikeability industry for your hard work. 

Bikeability continues to help equip children all over the country with the skills and confidence to ride safely, on-road and off. 

5 million more children cycling

This year we announced our figures show a record 560,471 children in England got pedalling with Bikeability cycle training between April 2023 and March 2024. That takes the total trained since the Bikeability Trust’s inception in 2007 to over 5 million. 

With your help, we can reach even more, so no child leaves school without the chance to learn how to cycle.  

Celebrating Bikeability champions

Our annual Celebration of Bikeability, which took place in July this year, recognises the amazing individuals and organisations that make Bikeability a success. We had some really inspiration entries and winners this year, from South Ribble Borough Council, who loan cycles to children to ensure they can take part in Bikeability, to instructor of the year Kate Arnold, who promotes cycling culture across Oxford. 

Get Cycling success

Our Get Cycling in Schools programme was rolled out to hundreds of schools – we’ve already trained more than 700 teaching staff from over 400 schools, and there are even more to come in the new year. 

This programme helps embed cycling and active travel habits in schoolchildren at a young age, as well as ensuring they are ready to tackle Level 2 when they get there! We had fantastic support from our partners at Frog, Squish and Decathlon, who provided balance bikes and helmets to get schools cycling! 

Summer of Cycling challenge

This year we ran a brand-new competition, which challenged children and their families to get out and about on their cycles over the summer holiday. The challenges included exploring nature and wildlife, joining in with a community event, visiting a local landmark, and more, with all the adventures powered by pedal of course! 

We had lots of amazing entrants who took on the challenge and enjoy a summer of cycling. We’ll be issuing a similar challenge next Summer, so keep your eyes peeled for more details! 

Our biggest ever Cycle to School Week

We took the reins on Cycle to School Week in 2024 and made it the best year yet. Over 500 schools and 160,000 pupils committed to cycling to school as part of Cycle to School Week.  

During the week we were excited to welcome the then Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh to see some Bikeability training in Preston. She was accompanied by Chris Boardman from Active Travel England (ATE).  

We also had visits from other Members of Parliament and VIPs, as well as lots of engagement from schools, many who got involved and encouraged their pupils to choose cycling to get to and from school. 

Award success

The Bikeability Trust was recognised for our Fleet Cycles project, which saw 1,124 cycles provided to schools to ensure their pupils could take part in Bikeability training. We made it to the finals of the Third Sector and Modeshift Awards for the project. We also triumphed at the BikeBiz awards, picking up the trophy for Cycle Advocacy category. 

The project has helped our instructors and colleagues in the Bikeability industry reach even more children who would otherwise not have the chance to learn to ride. 

Bikeability training linked to safer roads

As you will have seen in my November update, recent research, was carried out by TRL on behalf of The Bikeability Trust, looked at the possible effect that Bikeability training has on KSI numbers across the country. KSIs, or killed and seriously injured casualties, are an important measure in road safety.   

The results of the research show that increased Bikeability Level 2 training is statistically associated with fewer people being killed and seriously injured on the road.  It highlights the critical role of Bikeability cycle training for children in local road safety strategies. 

Funding update

The recent change in the Secretary of State for Transport will inevitably put any announcement of funding back. Rest assured I am still lobbying hard on behalf of all of Bikeability, and pushing to get our funding agreed as soon as possible. As soon as we know, we will be in touch to update you, following by your specific allocations. 

Thank you to all our industry

As always, none of our achievements above would be possible without our industry colleagues. We know you work hard to ensure as many children as possible can access the life skill of cycling, and your frontline work is invaluable.  

I also want to say a huge thank you to all the fantastic staff at the Trust, and our amazing Trustees, all of whom work very hard behind the scenes to make things happen. 

From all of us at The Bikeability Trust, we wish you a peaceful and joy-filled holiday season.