Located 40 miles north of Stirling at the western end of Loch Tay, Killin Primary School typifies many of the challenges faced by small rural schools in Scotland – especially in providing extracurricular activities for pupils in a way that is cost effective and sustainable. It has been awarded Highly Commended in the School of the Year category for its commitment to cycle training and its role as a Bikeability hub for other schools in the area.
If I can play a small part in making sure that they know what to expect and keeping them safe, then I think that I'm doing my job.
We spoke to headteacher Peter Waugh to find out more.
How do you feel about Killin Primary being recognised by the Bikeability Scotland community?
We're delighted to be recognised. I was surprised, to be honest. I was just doing what I thought I should.
Tell us about the growth of the programme at the school.
We've worked with Bikeability Scotland for a number of years. I have a background in PE and sport and particularly cycling on a personal level with my family. I was really keen that our children in the school had access to training and opportunities to build up their cycling.
What does this commitment look like?
I have tried to ensure that we have the training delivered to the P5s and P6s on an annual basis, and that's been really well received. We were able to get a little bit of help previously with finding bikes for children.
Our children are not in financial hardship but there is an element of rural poverty in that not all children have access to bikes. Making sure that the bikes that they do have are safe and well maintained and that they have helmets and bright clothing. We wanted to highlight initially with the children, and then with families, the importance of this.
What is your link with Crianlarich Primary School?
I'm [also] headteacher up at Crianlarich Primary, which is a 20-minute drive up the road. The skills are just as important. Crianlarich is on a really busy road, the A85. There are no facilities on the doorstep to get the children safely out on their bikes. What I try to do is coordinate the schools, and have children from Crianlarich brought down to Killin to access a bigger playground, quieter streets and the park here.
The schools are both small, Crianlarich is only 20 children, so even smaller than Killin. But these children will move on to high school together and giving them as many opportunities as they can to mix and develop friendships was really important to me.
Why is this coordination important?
The schools are both small, Crianlarich is only 20 children, so even smaller than Killin. But these children will move on to high school together and giving them as many opportunities as they can to mix and develop friendships was really important to me.
We suffer quite a bit with access to services up here particularly Crianlarich because we're the furthest school from the centre of Stirling. When we do have things come out, the people that are good enough to come, lose half their day just on the travel, which means there's less time available for them in school. Making that a little bit easier for groups like Bikeability and Recyke-a-bike, who have been part of our training, was really important. I've tried to facilitate that to make sure that the children have equal access to these kinds of opportunities.
Have you extended this support elsewhere?
Strathyre Primary is only 20 minutes away. They knew that we were doing the Bikeability and Amy Cornish [Cycle Training Coordinator] asked if we would be willing to host them because they don't have any suitable streets to learn junctions because their main road through the town is the A84, which is a very busy road. The road that goes past their school is the complete opposite. It's a very quiet road. It's one extreme or the other. There's not really an opportunity to wait for traffic and move safely, whereas we do have those opportunities in Killin.
What are other benefits to this approach?
As rural schools and rural headteachers, if we can bring schools and children together, from our point of view, it's a transition opportunity. It's a chance for staff to get together to share practice. But equally, it's making the best use of the instructor’s time and it gives the children experiences that they wouldn't otherwise get or would be a cost for families to do privately.
How much is there a cycling culture at the school?
We have a cycling focus throughout the year. Last session at the end of the year, we got the Cycling Friendly award from Cycling Scotland. Both schools got it because of the work we’ve done with cycling. We actively encourage children to cycle or scooter to school. Both schools have bike shelters they can use. Rather than doing the Daily Mile we have Cycle Mile Days where the kids can bring in their bikes and we take them to the park and, rather than running around the park or jogging, they'll either cycle or scoot.
We have a few bikes available in school and if children don't have access to a bike, then we either ask their peers to share, or we give them access to the school bikes that we have. We have a store of them to build up those skills with the younger children so hopefully, as they get older, they develop an interest in cycling as an alternative to running or just as a way of keeping active.
We’ve got Health Week coming up next week across both schools. Two of the staff at Crianlarich are doing a sponsored cycle on the Friday and the children will be cycling the same distance on an exercise bike within the school during that day as well.
It's about educating the children as to the enjoyment that can be gained from cycling, but also the importance of being visible and being streetwise.
What would be lost if you didn’t do it?
It's about educating the children as to the enjoyment that can be gained from cycling, but also the importance of being visible and being streetwise.
It's also giving them a bit of an insight into looking after the bikes and basic maintenance which they get through the training that the Bikeability instructors provide. It’s something that we're trying to build on. Are your friend's tyres pumped up? What condition is the chain in? Just trying to embed these skills that hopefully will stay with them.
How important is cycling as a life skill?
Riding a bike in a little village like Killin is one thing: cycling on the pavement and cycling to the park, but if they're riding bikes in Stirling or further afield [that’s different]. If I can play a small part in making sure that they know what to expect and keeping them safe, then I think that I'm doing my job.
For me, it's not just about what we have to teach in terms of the curriculum it's about these other opportunities and making sure that the kids have access.
What advice would you give to other rural schools?
For other schools in similar situations, I think it's about trying to be solution based and bringing schools together, working with colleagues, working with other headteachers and thinking, how can we bring these opportunities to local schools? And the way I've figured it is, let's just bring the schools together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. A longer audio version is available.