A wheelie good ride

Doherty's Creek P-9 school students Maddy, Navya and Luka participating in Ride2 School day on March 22. (Damjan Janevski) 396422_01

Students at Wyndham Vale’s Dohertys Creek P-9 College took to the streets on Friday as part of Ride2 School day.

A nationwide program facilitated by the Bicycle Network, Ride2School day is designed to empower, and encourage schools to promote physical activity among students during their journeys to school.

This year more Wyndham students participated in Ride2 School day than ever before, with Dohertys Creek among a number of local schools that have collaborated with Wyndham council to help spread the active travel message to the wider community.

Despite only opening in 2019, Dohertys Creek now has more than 1700 students, about 35 per cent of which actively ride, scoot or walk to school each day.

The rise in both student numbers and those actively travelling, has put a strain on infrastructure, with Doherty’s Creek’s two bike sheds filling up most days.

To help address these challenges, the school conducts regular surveys to find out how children are travelling to and from their homes, which is then provided to Wyndham council to help make improvements.

A spokesperson for Wyndham council said it was great to see students at Doherty’s Creek and other schools participating in the March 22 event.

“It is fantastic to see students riding to school and post-Ride2School Day it will be great to see more students choosing to actively travel to school,” the spokesperson said.

“As students ride to and from school each day under the guidance of their parents, it provides them with confidence that they can leave the car at home and allow their child to ride, scoot or walk to school.”

Cade Lucas.