Bikeability Scotland training helps to increase road safety awareness for school pupils, giving them the skills and confidence to travel more safely by bike. In 2025, Dumfries & Galloway became one of the latest local authorities in Scotland to deliver on-road cycle training in all of its primary schools, 90 in total.
Laurieknowe Primary School, in Dumfries is one of those schools. Situated just off one of the main routes into Dumfries, the importance of road safety education is self-evident; as Ross Newlands, the Principal Head, said: “the thought of sending pupils out onto local, busy roads during curriculum time can be daunting, but with skilled instructors the pupils get so much from the sessions.”
The school already provided introductory cycle training as well as family sessions with young pupils, so, as Ross described, it was “a natural and fitting progression to involve and engage our older pupils with ‘on-road’ training. Pupils are able to see that they have the opportunity to build on previously learned skills, and feel more safe and comfortable when cycling in the local community.”
Laurieknowe worked with Peri, the Bikeability Coordinator at Dumfries & Galloway Council, to roll out training, and Ross describes the entire experience with positivity, demonstrating the impact that training has had on their young people:
Teachers across the upper stages note that pupils come back into class with a real ‘buzz’ discussing the skills they have learned or how much their confidence has improved when cycling on a road. The training is comprehensive and is very much tailored to local transport / traffic trends in our area, where a lot of our pupils live anyway.
They are enthused to return the following week for the next session which has contributed to a positive shift in their attitudes to cycling. This has been backed up year upon year now as younger pupils see or hear about the older ones completing their training.
The proof of the positive experience and impact is clear when speaking to the pupils who have taken part in the training:
“I wasn’t confident riding a bike before I started Bikeability training, but the instructors made me feel so much more comfortable” (Poppy, P7)
“I used to do mountain biking and found road cycling more challenging, learning about the rules of the road. By doing Bikeability training I feel much better and safer on the road now.” (Matthew, P7)
“Getting the experience of cycling on the road and being trained by professionals was really fun” (Emery, P7)
“It was quite challenging thinking about all the safety things but I really enjoyed it in the end” (Leo, P7)
Independent research shows a clear link between pupils who have taken part in Bikeability training and more frequent cycling, and this is the case for the young people at Laurieknowe, which Ross describes as one of the main highlights: “the increase in pupils (both older and young) choosing to cycle to school, and the confidence in which they are doing this.”
So what’s the message from Laurieknowe to other schools in Scotland that aren’t yet delivering Bikeability cycle training?
Do it! Not only does it improve pupils’ confidence and abilities in cycling but it develops so many more soft skills like resilience, communication, problem solving etc. Ultimately, they work on something that they can use for the rest of their lives.
More information about Bikeability Scotland delivery
Dumfries & Galloway was alongside Midlothian, Moray and Perth & Kinross in achieving 100% delivery for the first time in 2024-25, a year which saw more than 53,000 pupils take part in the training across Scotland and more schools participate than ever before.
Free for pupils, Bikeability is funded and co-ordinated by Cycling Scotland, in a long-term partnership with local authorities, through grant funding from Transport Scotland.
