Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
Cycling safety module
Use the Smash scenario and these PSHE/Citizenship materials from RoSPA (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents) as an impetus to help all children to understand the potential hazards involved in cycling, whether or not they own a bike.
Teachers' introductory notes
Curriculum context
These two lessons are intended to be taught to Key Stage Two children as part of the curriculum for personal, social, health education and citizenship. They are designed to fulfil elements of the National Curriculum in England contained within the framework for PSHE and citizenship (The National Curriculum Handbook for primary teachers in England, pages 136-141).
Aims
The lessons aim to contribute to safety education. In particular, they aim to help the development of the essential life skill of being able to assess and manage everyday risks. Children cannot be totally protected or isolated from all potential risks, especially as they become more independent at adolescence. Being able to assess and manage risks themselves becomes increasingly essential.
The lessons address risk assessment in terms of making decisions about:
- where it's safe to cycle
- what is safe to wear, and
- how cyclists can make sure that their bikes are clearly seen by drivers.
Practical cycling training courses
The lessons are not a substitute for the practical cyclist training courses which many schools organise with their local Road Safety Department. Rather, they are designed as part of the safety education element of PSHE and citizenship to help all children to understand the potential hazards involved in cycling, whether or not they own a bike.
Class teaching
Many safety education resources are currently available consisting largely of activity sheets for children to complete. While these can be useful as follow-up materials to build on learning, they cannot replace the direct teaching of safety concepts. These two lessons provide a balance of class teaching and small group activities. Projecting the materials onto a screen, rather than using them as worksheets, will encourage class or group discussion of the issues, and allow direct teaching.
Transfer of learning to everyday life
An important success criteria of PSHE is whether children can apply their learning to their everyday lives. The review activities at the end of each lesson are included for this reason and it's important to make time for them.
Learning about risk assessments in other areas of the National Curriculum
The National Curriculum includes a general teaching requirement for health and safety at all four key stages. It applies to subjects involving the use of tools, equipment and practical activities (science, DT, ICT, art and design and PE). It requires that children are taught to recognise hazards, assess risks and take steps to control the risks to themselves and others (the National Curriculum Handbook for primary teachers in England, page 40). The same principles of risk assessment are used in these lessons and provide a way of helping children to apply their learning to everyday life.
Sensitive issues
It is important to ensure that children who don't have cycles, for whatever reason, don't feel left out. The lessons are intended for both cyclists and non-cyclists and aim to increase everyone's understanding of cycling and road safety.
Cycling on the roads is addressed in the lessons but care should be taken to ensure that children don't feel pressure to cycle on roads before they are competent. It should also be emphasised that children should have their parents' permission to cycle on the roads.
The materials
These materials are designed to be downloaded and projected on to a screen for class discussion, and/or photocopied and distributed to the children.
Click on the links below to download the materials for this section in MS Word (.DOC) format.
