With the Olympics underway, Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children at South Liverpool’s Honey Pot Nursery Group Ltd are simply buzzing about the chance to take a Balanceability course, which will get them bike ready, using balance bikes.
A team of staff from four of the six Honey Pot’s sites have been specially trained by Balanceability, the UK’s only afPE-approved learn-to-cycle programme to deliver the course to the children aged between 3 and 5 years. In a series of fun activities, the sessions will develop pupils’ motor skills, spatial awareness, dynamic and static balance and teach them how to pick up, manoeuvre, mount and dismount their bikes safely.
An increase in parental time pressures means that some children are not learning valuable life skills, and according to British Cycling, 33% of parents say their children can’t ride a bike. That’s why, Honey Pot Nursery Group Ltd was determined to offer the chance to learn to ride a bike to as many children as possible.
Honey Pot Nursery Group Ltd Nurseries Quality Manager, Kim Wilson Kim explains, “We are committed to ensure that all children that attend Honey Pot have the same opportunities and we wanted all children to be able to learn how to ride a bike. We are advocates of providing exciting outdoor activities that will provide a great way of engaging the children, and introducing these balance bikes as part of the enriched curriculum will give our children the confidence to then go on to ride pedal bikes. It is a very exciting time, and we are looking forward to introducing the balance bikes to our children.”
Comments Samantha Wright, Commercial Manager for Balanceability, “Cycling should be for all which is why we’ve carefully designed the Balanceability programme with child development experts and cycling professionals, to be run in schools, local authorities, and leisure sites across the country. It’s so lovely to see how excited all the children at Honey Pot Day Nursey are, they just can’t wait to try out their new PE activity and complete the course. Not only will they receive stickers and a certificate of achievement but also that really special feeling of freedom and confidence that riding a bike brings!”
Balanceability offers the perfect solution to this gap in skill development. I was extremely impressed when I observed the course at one of my Bike It schools, as were the teachers and parents. For many pupils, it gave them the confidence and enthusiasm to practice their cycling at home with their families. I have seen a very high level of cycle competency from Reception pupils and throughout this school when running my events here.
I have also noticed that since the Balanceability training, more pupils come to school with balance bikes rather than bikes with stabilisers, which I much prefer because balance bikes develop the children's cycling skills much quicker and are more fun to use. Parents were very supportive of the training and it has helped me get them more involved with the Bike It project which is fantastic.
