School unicycle squad help cut car use

May 7 2008 by Liz Hands, The Journal

SCHOOLCHILDREN showed a Government minister yesterday that where there’s a wheel – there’s a way.

The school wants to cut the number of cars gathered round its gates in the mornings and at home-time – and improve the children’s health by encouraging more of them to cycle to school.

Yesterday, the start of Bike to School Week, Children, Schools and Families Minister Kevin Brennan visited St Catherine’s RC Primary School in Sandyford, Newcastle.

The school, which has 240 pupils, runs cycling clubs and is the first location outside the United States to have been provided with a cycle stand by Kryptonite, an American company owned by Ingersoll-Rand.

Mr Brennan unveiled the stand – and pupils Josh Reid, 10, and sisters Angela and Julia Lochmuller, aged nine and 10, treated him to a display of unicycling.

St Catherine’s is the only primary school in Britain to have a unicycling club, and the sisters travel to school on their one-wheeled machines.

The cycling clubs at the school are organised by Carlton Reid, who lives in Jesmond and whose son Josh and eight-year-old twins Hanna and Ellie are pupils.

Carlton, editor of the magazine Bikebiz.com, said 30 youngsters had signed up for the unicycle club.

He said: “Unicycling is a difficult skill to master but it teaches mobility, balance and life skills like perseverance and patience.

“Cycling as a good form of transport but, like many other schools, St Catherine’s has traffic problems as parents drive their children to school and pick them up again.”

Headteacher Michael Ewing said: “The unicycling club has been a fantastic success and teaches the youngsters qualities like resilience.”

He said several of his staff had taken advantage of a Newcastle City Council Bike to Work scheme to acquire cycles.

Mr Brennan also watched children being given Bikeability training – the new cycling proficiency training which equips children with skills for riding on roads.

Karen Rizzo, general manager of Kryptonite in the United States, said: “Encouraging children to get on their bikes more often empowers them to learn about the joys of cycling.”

Mr Brennan said: “Cycling to school is a great way for children to keep fit and develop their independence.

“Bike to School Week is a really good way of encouraging children and their parents to get on their bikes and develop a habit that promotes health and fitness for life.

“Staying safe while cycling is also very important and that is why I’m delighted to support the Bikeability cycling proficiency test.”

A green lesson to us all

A PRIMARY school between two former mining villages was again hailed as a shining role model to others during a ministerial visit yesterday.

Children, Young People and Families minister Kevin Brennan opened the Cassop Environmental Extra Sustainability Centre at Cassop Primary School, near Durham – a school with a growing national reputation for "green" policies.

The centre will enable teachers and pupils from schools across the UK see how the school provides its own energy and food.

Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods praised the "inspirational" leadership of head Jim McManners, who has been at the school for 35 years.

The school has used a wind turbine and biomass boiler for many years and it grows vegetables in its own grounds.

Dr Blackman-Woods said: "Sustainability, green issues generally, and the need to protect our environment are embedded into all aspects of the curriculum.

"This applies to music, drama and dance as well as the more traditional area for green issues.

"This is an especially remarkable achievement given that the school is in a relatively disadvantaged area, between two former mining villages of Cassop and Quarrington Hill.

Mr Brennan said: "The Government’s aim is for every school to be a sustainable school by 2020 and I’d like to thank Cassop Primary School for leading the way."