About the program

Ride or Walk to School Banner

It’s a great way to get moving every day!

The daily trips to and from school are terrific opportunities for kids to be active.

Ride or Walk to School – primary schools

The Ride or Walk to School (RWTS) program is a free ACT Government service for schools, developed by ACT Health and delivered by Transport Canberra and City Services. It complements other government initiatives to support and encourage children to walk or ride to school. 

The program provides ACT schools with access to Australian curriculum aligned resources to teach safe cycling, teacher training, and parent and carer engagement materials to help the whole school community embrace riding and walking to school.

kids walking to school

Program resources include:

  • ‘Safe Cycle’ – an  Australian Curriculum aligned classroom program, for students to learn about bike safety and skills
  • A free set of student loan bikes to support curriculum delivery
  • Online Teacher Quality Institute Accredited Professional Learning
  • Face to face professional learning workshops
  • Student curriculum resources
  • Resources and support to promote and run active travel events
  • Personalised maps to show the best route to your school
  • Support from a dedicated program manager and connection to a network of teachers delivering the program in ACT schools.

If your school isn’t yet involved, contact the School Safety Program to find out more.

It’s Your Move Safe Cycle – high schools

The It’s Your Move Safe Cycle program is available for high schools across the ACT. Participating schools receive access to a range of resources, similar to those available to Ride or Walk to School primary schools.

Learn more and get involved

The Ride or Walk to School and It’s Your Move Safe Cycle programs are part of Active Streets, a Transport Canberra and City Services initiative, which aims to make the environment around schools safer to ride, walk, scoot or skate. Together, these programs take a whole of school approach to increase active travel among school students in Canberra. To learn more, visit Transport Canberra and City Services.

To get your school involved, contact the School Safety Program.

Evaluation report

In 2017, an independent evaluation of the Ride or Walk to School program found it produced a number of positive results, including:

  • increased rates of children actively travelling to and from school
  • increased student confidence, skills and safety around riding or walking to school
  • improved partnership and collaboration across ACT Health, Transport Canberra and City Services and ACT schools
  • positive feedback on the program from schools and teachers
  • positive contribution to the ACT ‘Healthy Weight Initiative’

The full report is available here.

 

Page last updated on: 30 Mar 2022