bicycles

[witlesssarah]

Forgive me if this is the wrong place but I need some advice.

DS is attending a school which is about 15 mins adult walk from home (so about 25 minute walk for him) His nursery is in the same area and we've been taking him on a pavement bike for sometime and he can do it in 15mins.

All fine, and good because DH and I use bikes for most of our transport and don't have a car. So we'd like DS to become proficient in cycling and see it as his main mode of transport too (though we're in no rush for him to be on the road)

the problem is that the school has a scooter shed but not a bike shed. And they said in the school letter that bikes can't be left on the premises. When we asked they said we could leave the bike in the nursery's pram shed.

Not surprisingly, DS is uncomfortable with this, after all he's in big school now.

What I'd like is ideas for how to go about getting the school to get a bike shed without irritating the school too much in the process.

Or perhaps we need to give up and say that he should use a scooter since that's what the school wants. Problem is that his old style scooter is too much work to scoot such a distance and the new style scooter's cost 99 pounds.

so, advice please, or tell me where to post for advice

thanks

[Tortoise]

£99 for a new scooter? We live about the same distance from school as you and my kids manage fine on basic scooters ie £15 ones!

No idea what you can do about the bike shed though. Seems daft that they can leave scooters but not bikes. Our school has bike and scooter parking space!

[witlesssarah]

Thanks Tortoise. Any link for the 15 pound scooter? Do want to keep options open but last time we went on the scooter it took forever (slower than just walking) and I think its because the scooter is heavy and clunky (DS is on the slight side)

[Tortoise]

Argos do lots of cheap scooters. If you want to spend more on maybe a more sturdy scooter ones like these are good. DS2 got one in a charity shop for £8! Plus strong enough for an adult to ride!

[freelancescientist]

We have had issues with my children's primary school re a bike shed - apparently they can't condone children cycling to school until they have done their cycling proficiency - which is yr5/6 I think - so won't install one on the premises. Most annoying as 2 days a week my parents do the school run, and live too far to walk, but could cycle with my Dad, leave the bikes at school (as he can't manage to cycle home with 2 kids bikes in tow), then reverse the journey.
So another annoying car journey and car parked near school it is then...

[seeker]

Talk to the
PTA about a bike shed or bike rack - it's the sort of thing they should be able to provide.

[Pernickety]

Two schools we have used installed covered bike sheds. I am not sure who instigated it though. It was very much sold as a green initiative though. The school my DD is at now does not have a covered bike shed and I would like to see the school to have this in their plan. I too don't expect DD to cycle to school alone but if she cycles alongside me, I need to be able to leave her bike somewhere sheltered during the school day.

Good luck.

[Seeline]

I would explain to the school that it is your usual mode of transport, and that you don't have a car. Our school hasn't got a bike shed but does provide a rack for parking bikes and scooters so that they can be kept safe and out of the way during school hours. There must be somewhere out of the way that you could padlock a bike so that it couldn't be used during the day. Where do the staff park?

[prettybird]

Our primary school installed a lovely covered bike shed last year. We applied for and got £10,000 funding for it (it's a very nice bike shed with proper bike stands for looking bikes too).

Maybe you could suggest to the PTA that they could look into this; it was our Parent Council (Scottish equivalent of the PTA) that did all the work - but they had to have the school's support.

Bikes and scooters are left there. Most kids that cycle do so with their parents. Ds (10, P6 - equivalent of Y5) is currently cycling but is not yet good enough to go on his own (which is a pain, as last year he was walking to/from school on his own)

[prettybird]

Oh - and before that, the couple of kids that did cycle used to padlock their bikes to the school railings.

[witlesssarah]

Thanks for all those stories, I'll get on to the PTA and see what we can do.