Run by
Ed Woodhouse
Does your child have difficulty riding a bicycle? Have you tried stabilisers and everything you can think of? Or have you put off the dreaded task knowing it will be a huge challenge? Then why not book your child into our course that we are running in conjunction with the Pedal Project?
The Minimum age to take part is 5 years old
The minimum height is 92cm and the maximum height is 125cm
*If your child is a sibling who does not have additional needs themselves, please do not book this course*
*Please do not book if your child has already taken part in a Pedal Project course *
*Please Do not book if you have attended a Pedal Project Course before, if your child already knows how to ride a bicycle or if they need a refresher course. Instead please put your child's name on the waiting list and we will contact you if a space becomes available. If your child has taken part before, they may be able to join later sessions of this course, if a place becomes available, so please do not book them into the whole course or bring them to the first session. Please put them on the waiting list and we will contact you if a space becomes available. You can find the waiting list here
The children will be taught in small groups of up to 6 children.
There will be 2 classes: one at 4pm and one at 5pm. Please make sure you only book one time slot.
This activity takes place at the Brunswick Club in Twickenham.
Children need to be able to run confidently in order to successfully learn to pedal a bicycle. If your child is not physically able to run, we have some other accessible cycling projects to suggest to you. Please visit this page on our website for some ideas.
If you would like to discuss whether this course is right for your child, please contact mia@skylarks.charity
The dates for this 4 week course are:
- Friday 23rd February (then a 2 week real resuming on 8th March)
- Friday 8th March
- Friday 15th March
- Friday 22nd March
*Please only book if you are confident you will be able to attend al four sessions*
The children will be taught in small groups of up to 6 children.
There will be 2 classes: one at 4pm and one at 5pm. Please make sure you only book one time slot.
This activity takes place at the Brunswick Club in Twickenham.
Children need to be able to run confidently in order to successfully learn to pedal a bicycle. If your child is not physically able to run, we have some other accessible cycling projects to suggest to you. Please visit this page on our website for some ideas.
Please contact mia@skylarks.charity if you would like to discuss whether this course is suitable for your child.
This course will be delivered by Ed Woodhouse of Pedal Project. Many of our families have used his services, so he comes highly recommended! One mum says:
“I can’t thank you enough for teaching A to cycle. Because A has Down Syndrome we knew we were setting you a huge challenge, as we don’t know any children with Down Syndrome that cycle without stabilisers, yet you were honest, positive and completely unfazed. When we saw him cycling after just three sessions I think the tears said it all! We are spreading the word about Pedal Project and urging other parents of children with disabilities to give it a go.”
The Pedal Project’s mission is to get as many children as possible enjoying cycling and to get children pedalling safely without stabilisers.
Cycling has so many benefits, particularly to both physical and psychological health, as well as the freedom it affords. But perhaps the greatest benefit of learning to cycle is the huge boost in confidence it gives - learning a new skill for life.
To make the most of this course, your child needs to have the potential to be able to ride a bicycle. You as the parents are best placed to know your child’s abilities. Not all children are aware of dangers, so you, the parents, need to decide if your child will be safe to ride outside with the hazards of traffic etc once they have mastered the skill.
Where:
Twickenham Brunswick C.Y.P. & Table Tennis Club
Clarendon Crescent
TW2 5LN
How:
Bikes and helmets will be provided. Children are expected to wear a helmet and may not be able to take part if they can’t keep a helmet on, so please get your child used to wearing a bicycle helmet, if you can. Please also make sure your child wears loose comfortable clothing such as jogging bottoms and long sleeved tops. Skirts and open-toed sandals are not recommended.
The bicycles that will be provided are Islabikes, which are the best children’s bikes on the market. They are lightweight and all components are scaled down. The brakes in particular are excellently designed and easy to use.
We will use a variety of games to help the children learn balance and control.
We can’t guarantee that your children will learn to ride a bicycle successfully in the 5 sessions, but we will do our very best to help them and to allow them to enjoy it! The most important element is to build up their confidence, allowing our children the opportunity to gain a skill they might have thought they would not be able to achieve. We do not use stabilisers but start off using an Islabike without pedals and using it as a balance bike, first gaining speed and confidence and then learning to balance. When each child is ready, Ed adds pedals to their bicycle and shows them how to build on their skills.
Who:
This course is only for our children who have additional needs or disabilities, rather than their siblings.
Siblings are very welcome to take part in one of Pedal Project’s mainstream courses, which take place in Twickenham, Barnes and Battersea. Ed guarantees that he will get your mainstream children cycling.
Here is some more information on the Pedal Project:
https://pedalproject.co.uk/social-enterprise/
How much:
For this course we are suggesting a donation of £40, which goes towards the cost of hiring the venue. The Donation should be made when you book your child’s place, either by bank transfer or by cash or cheque on the day.
We are able to offer free or subsidised places. If you are in financial difficulties, please book a place and then speak to us about a bursary place.
To book a place, please log into our website:
Book the time slot you would like, on this page
Please note there are 2 stages to complete: the booking and the donation process which are done separately. Please log in to the website and BOOK YOUR PLACE before making payment.
If a donation is made without a booking being completed, this unfortunately does not guarantee you a place.
On the day:
Please try and arrive in good time for the course, so your child can acclimatise before starting. There is plenty of parking on site.
Please bring some comfortable clothes for your child, especially if they are coming straight from school. Some children find sitting on the saddle makes them sore, so please try to avoid skirts. We recommend soft trousers, jogging bottoms or leggings and plenty of padding!
We will ask the children to wear helmets and stress the importance of this. Please help with this as much as possible. We will provide special Skylarks helmets which are for you to take away and keep. Please put a name label inside them for when you bring them back to each session! These helmets cover more of the head than traditional helmets, are lighter and also have extra padding inside which can be changed as your child grows. If your child has their own helmet and would prefer to wear this, you are welcome to bring it with you.
Parents are asked to stay on the premises but are not expected to take part or be in the same room as the children, unless their child’s needs are such that this would be advisable. We will provide tea, coffee and biscuits for waiting parents, water, breadstick and rice cakes for children. We will also have some toys for waiting siblings to play with in a separate room. If you will be bringing your other children, please let us know their ages so that we can provide suitable toys for them to play.
We do not guarantee that we will get all children being able to ride a bicycle by the end of the course, but a good many do achieve this goal. We aim to be supportive and to help the children on their journey, whether this will end with them being fully fledged cyclists or with them just being prepared to sit on a bicycle for the first time. We celebrate all their achievements, in a low key way without overwhelming or embarrassing them!
