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Travelling to school

Family of 6 cycling on 3 bikes riding along a bike path

Learn about our safe and active school travel programs, resources and events.

We are committed to improving safety around schools, encouraging healthy, sustainable travel and strengthening school communities. We support schools in Darebin with several programs and events including Octopus Schools, Ride2School Day and Ready to Roll.

Ride2School Day 2024

Ride2School Day on Friday 22 March 2024 was a fun Australia-wide celebration of riding, walking and scooting to school. Every year 400+ Victorian schools join in and highlight the benefits of healthy, sustainable travel. This year we supported 17 Darebin primary schools who enrolled with us for a package of prizes and giveaways.

Why stop at Ride2School Day? This year we've introducing WOW Darebin! a brand new program to keep the spirit alive in Term 2.

WOW Darebin! in Term 2

Like to see more active travel to school and less traffic in surrounding streets? We invited all Darebin primary schools to join WOW Darebin! – Walk or Wheel Once a Week throughout Term 2. We are delighted that six schools are getting involved this year. Participating schools will receive a program introduction, a beautiful Golden Boot Award, plus posters and wall calendars for each class. At the end of the 9 weeks, one class in each school will win their own Golden Boot Award for outstanding participation!

Ready to Roll – Riding to Secondary School

In 2022, we launched our Ready to Roll program to support Grade 6 students transitioning to Year 7 to improve their on-road bike riding skills. The program meets the needs of students starting secondary school who may be riding their bike on the road for the first time. The program covers:

bike handling skills
road and path rules
communication with other road users
defensive riding techniques
safe journey planning

In 2022-2023 and 2023—2024 four secondary schools in Darebin participated in the program. The program was proudly supported by a Victorian Government Department of Transport and Planning Community Road Safety Grant.

Octopus Schools program

Our Octopus Schools program promotes and facilitates safe and active travel to three Darebin schools. We work with local schools to make travelling to and from school safer, whilst promoting active travel to school to help students be healthier, better at school, more environmentally sustainable and be part of a stronger school community. This is done through a combination of behaviour change programs, school activities, and minor infrastructure improvements to create safe paths to school.

This year we're working with Preston Primary School, Preston North East Primary School and Croxton School. In 2022—23 we worked with Kingsbury Primary School, St Raphael’s Primary School and Bell Primary School. Activities include:

Creating safe routes to school, including Legs the Octopus footpath decals and individualised school travel maps
Student safe travel education including incursions
Initiating regular school active travel days
Travel surveys for students and parents
Audits of local transport infrastructure, including parking
Dr Cranky’s Bike Hospital pop-ups to prepare families for Ride2School Day – bikes are repaired and reconditioned bikes are provided to those who need them.

Our Octopus Schools program is proudly supported by a Victorian Government Department of Planning and Transport Community Road Safety Grant for Safe Routes to School.

Riding with your child

Our 'Riding with your child' guide is the perfect starting point for parents who want to help their children start riding a bike.

Updated in April 2023, it contains top tips on:

getting the right bike for your child
teaching them how to ride
rules for riding on footpaths, shared paths and on the road

Download Riding with your child FAQs and tips(PDF, 306KB)

More information

To find out more about Darebin's active travel to school initiatives please email safetravel@darebin.vic.gov.au