By Callum Ludwig
Students at the Cire Community School in Yarra Junction are set to kick their learning up a gear with a generous donation of 25 bikes from Variety, the Children’s Charity.
Members from Variety were joined by representatives from AusCycling, MRP Wied Solutions and Turosi Giving to help build, prepare and hand over the bikes to the students.
Campus Principal Jacqui Walker said after variety reached out to offer bikes to the school, they thought they’d be lucky to get 15 or 20.
“To get 25 bikes, 25 locks and 40 helmets is just incredible. We have this beautiful environment with the Warburton Trail just down the road, but many of our students don’t have access to good quality or safe bikes and now this allows them to get out and about with our staff,” she said.
“We want to regularly take every student in every class out to ride along the trail, and we’re hoping to find a grant for a trailer so we can even expand where we ride as well.”
The bikes come in different shapes and sizes so there is a good fit for any student.
Ms Walker said students are going to get a lot more out of it than just going for a leisurely bike ride.
“A big part of the bike ed program will be looking after bikes, and they’re going to be gaining skills that they wouldn’t have otherwise gained. Many of our students thrive on that kind of opportunity to build, explore and fix things,” she said.
“It also broadens their social network and their connections, and we’re all about connections. Looking for connections in our local community and getting out and meeting people is something Cire believes very strongly in.”
AusCycling will be back to host a four-week bike education program with Cire students in the coming weeks.
AusCycling Cycling Coach Brenton Jones said he’ll try and make every lesson as fun as possible while embedding the core skills needed to be a better bike rider.
“Getting kids on bikes and having fun is the main thing, and in general people on bikes do have fun, but they also learn fundamental skills to help them be safer on the roads. The key skills they learn are going to be braking, cornering and balancing,” he said.
“The whole project is amazing and it’s great for these kids to have this opportunity and for AusCycling to come in and give them some quality coaching and instruction on how to use these bikes really well. Every kid should have access to a bike, it’s a life skill.”
The Variety Bikes for Kids program has donated over 13,000 bikes since its inception in 2002. The bikes for the Cire Community School were donated by Anaconda to Variety.
Variety CEO Mandy Burns said connecting with what is meaningful for kids is what really makes her heart sing and makes all of their supporters so happy.
“Bikes are such an amazing thing because they give connection, they provide opportunities for health, a sense of freedom and it’s a really neat way for businesses and community members to get involved as well,” she said.
“Something as simple as a bike can also support kids to get to school or to train for something or to find new pathways into work,”
“Bikes for Kids is only possible because we’ve got lots of caring people donating money and time, and schools that work with kids to make it meaningful as well. It’s a real partnership because it takes a village to raise a child.”
