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 2025

Ride2School Day on Friday 21 March 2025 is 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're inviting all Darebin schools to register their event with us to receive a prize and resource pack. Registered schools will also go in the draw to win a Bike N Blend Tandem package with two blender bikes.

All primary schools will be contacted by email and invited to register using this form by Wednesday 12 March.

WOW Darebin! in Term 2

Like to see more active travel to school and less traffic in surrounding streets? We'll be inviting all Darebin primary schools to join WOW Darebin! – Walk or Wheel Once a Week throughout Term 2. 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! Applications open on Ride2School Day, Friday 21 March.

Ready to Roll – Riding to Secondary School

Our popular Ready to Roll program supports Grade 6 students transitioning to Year 7 to improve their on-road bike riding skills. The program covers the following topics and meets the needs of students starting secondary school who may be riding their bike on the road for the first time:

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

During the 2024-25 summer holidays we offered the program to all Darebin secondary schools with four schools opting to take part.

Here’s a short video to give you a better idea of what Ready to Roll is all about.

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. At the same time, we promote active travel to school. This helps 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 West Primary School, Reservoir Primary School and William Ruthven Primary School. In 2023—24 we worked with Preston Primary School, Preston North East Primary School and Croxton 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. It contains 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

The DRRC (Tip) and shop hours may be affected by weather conditions