\n The Play on Pedals scheme, launched through a partnership between Enjoy East Ren and Cycling Scotland, has already helped more than 200 pre-schoolers in East Renfrewshire gain confidence on two wheels.\n<\/p>\n
\n The programme helps to support and train nursery staff and provides bikes to help youngsters begin their cycling journey.\n<\/p>\n
\n St Cadoc’s Nursery in Newton Mearns was one of the first to adopt the new programme.\n<\/p>\n
\n Children in East Renfrewshire are learning to cycle at nursery, thanks to a new partnership scheme. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Claire Friel, child development officer at St Cadoc\u2019s Nursery, said: \u201cWe started last year on a full-day course teaching children how to cycle, first of all on a balance bike through playing games and building up confidence to cycle a pedal bike.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe children are very enthusiastic and excited to go outside.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou can see their confidence build, they’re making friends and taking turns, working on skills like teamwork, learning to share space and resources.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey love it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe just started last year and had over 25 pre-school and primary one children cycling by the summer.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPlay on Pedals is a fantastic initiative for the kids’ wellbeing and enjoyment.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cCycling is for life, so it’s a great skill to learn.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The pilot was so successful that Enjoy East Ren plans to expand the programme to all local nurseries.\n<\/p>\n
\n Last year, 21 early years staff across 10 nurseries were trained, and each setting received a fleet of seven bikes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Training will be offered to staff at a further nine nurseries this year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kerry Comerford, Active Schools co-ordinator for Enjoy East Ren, praised the positive response.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cWe’ve been discussing the Play on Pedals programme and gauging interest in cycling with the nurseries in East Renfrewshire, and we were met with open arms and a real sense of enthusiasm to get going.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe feedback from the children is on their faces.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey are delighted to take part, and the sense of achievement when they are successful in getting onto a pedal bike is fantastic to see.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPlay on Pedals is such an important initiative.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt’s so important for kids to learn to cycle, and to do that through the nursery is fantastic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The scheme also has the backing of parents, who have praised its effectiveness in helping children quickly develop cycling skills.\n<\/p>\n
\n Children in East Renfrewshire are learning to cycle at nursery, thanks to a new partnership scheme. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Joanna Hendry, cycle training and development officer at Cycling Scotland, said: \u201cThe nursery stage is the perfect age for kids to learn. It’s all play-based, helps with their cognitive skills and balance skills and is great fun.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe feedback is amazing \u2013 parents say they’re trying to teach the kids for two years, then they do a couple of sessions at nursery, and they’re flying on their bikes.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cParents and carers should not have to pay for their child to learn to cycle.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere are so many kids cycling now, and the progress in East Renfrewshire has been phenomenal.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Play on Pedals programme is supported by Transport Scotland.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe provide grant funding for nurseries to get a bike fleet, helmets and for early year practitioners to get trained to deliver the programme to the nursery kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Play on Pedals scheme, launched through a partnership between Enjoy East Ren and Cycling Scotland, has already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-419263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}