Cycle training for children aged 9 and over to help build the skills and confidence to ride a bike safely on the road.

Bikeability is a national cycle training scheme. It’s like cycling proficiency, but better. It’s about gaining practical skills and understanding how to cycle on today’s roads.

The course is for children who:

• are aged between 9 and 16 years
• can ride a bike one handed so they’re able to indicate and look over their shoulder
• have their own bike and helmet
• have permission from a parent or carer to take part
• live or go to school in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole

You can book your child on this course even if they haven't completed a Level 1 course first, as long as they are a confident cyclist with the following skills:

• can look over their shoulder whilst cycling
• ride one handed so they can signal
• brake effectively
• manoeuvre their bike

This course is designed to teach your child how to cycle safely on the roads. It is not a course for a child who cannot yet cycle confidently. Please ensure they have the above skills before booking them on this course. If they do not yet have these skills, you may be able to book them on one of our school or holiday Bikeability Level 1 Playground Bike Skills courses. Please ask at your child’s school or check our booking system below for current course availability. If there’s no current courses, please email us for a place on the waiting list.

During the first hour of the course, before taking them out on the road, we will check that your child can cycle proficiently by checking they have all the above skills and are safe to take out on the road. We will also check your child’s bike is roadworthy and their helmet is fitted correctly. This will take place in a secure playground area.

We will then take your child out onto the local residential roads surrounding our training location. This will give your child a real cycling experience that equips them with skills to deal with traffic on short local journeys, such as cycling to school or the local shops. Our Level 2 course will encourage and develop safe cycling skills, develop positive attitudes towards road use, increase knowledge and understanding of the road and traffic environment and give riders the confidence to use their bicycles on local roads.

Your child will learn how to:

• start and finish a journey
• pass side roads and parked vehicles
• make left, right and U turns
• understand where to position themselves when cycling on the road
• be aware of everything around them whilst cycling
• explain decisions made during cycling and thereby demonstrate understanding of a safe cycling strategy

Booking

Most of our Bikeability courses are held in schools and these courses are offered for free but we do also hold some limited holiday courses at £5 per child (to ensure attendance of the course) and to check on availability and book a place for your child on a holiday course, please use our booking system.

For our holiday courses, if you cancel more than 48 hours before the start of the course, you can either book onto another alternative course or if preferred, you will receive a refund.

Children who have successfully completed our Level 2 Residential Road course and are an experienced and confident cyclist, can progress to our Bikeability Level 3 Advanced Cycling course. Please discuss this with your child’s Level 2 course instructor or call the office on 01202 127 867 to discuss if they are ready for their Level 3 course.

Assessment will take place throughout the course, through practical learning experiences. Children will receive a certificate and badge at the end of the course, but this will not be a licence that guarantees they are safe to cycle unsupervised on the road. This Bikeability Level 2 course provides children with basic safety skills and experience of the main manoeuvres associated with cycling on quiet residential roads. The decision for your child to cycle unsupervised after the course will be the decision of parents/guardians.

If your child cannot yet cycle, discuss with your child's school if they are running one of our Bikeability Learn to Ride courses or go to our booking system to look for current availability on our holiday courses.

Instructors

Our instructors are all fully qualified to the national standard, DBS checked and trained in first aid. They also receive regular safeguarding training. 

Contact us

If you have a query regarding our courses, please call the Bikeability Team on 01202 127 867/ 01202 123 982 or email bikeability@bcpcouncil.gov.uk. If there are no current holiday courses available, please email us and we will place you on our waiting list and you will be notified when courses are available.

There may be a delay in the response as we are a very small busy team and we are often out at events or meetings.

Sometimes emails may get caught in the junk or spam folder, so please check these if you’re expecting an email from us.