Yennadon Elementary in Pilot Program To Get More Students to Walk & Bike to School

Thanks to the leadership role played by its Parent Advisory Council and the active participation of some parents, Yennadon Elementary School will be playing host to an Active School Travel (AST) program which aims to encourage students to use active transportation during their daily commute to and from school.

The 2022 Active School Travel Pilot Program is a pilot initiative led by the BC Healthy Communities Society and is funded by the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. Following the success of its first year pilot, the second pilot, which takes place from January to December 2022, sees an expansion to include 12 participating schools.

With the objective of getting more students to physically walk or bicycle to and from school, the program is designed to help municipalities, school districts and parents to work together to plan walking and cycling improvements that meet the specific needs of students in the neighbourhood. In addition to getting more students to become more physically active, the program will hopefully result in safety improvements in infrastructure surrounding the school.

Craig Towers, a member of the Yennadon Active School Transportation, a sub-committee within the Yennadon’s Parent Advisory Council, provides further details on the specific activities to be taken by the program for the elementary school:

“Yennadon Elementary School’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is pleased to share with our community that we have been selected to participate in the 2022 Active School Travel Pilot Program through BC Healthy Communities Society (BCHC).

This program is being co-led by two parents at Yennadon Elementary School who are both a part of the PAC executive and participate in the Yennadon Active School Transportation (YAST) committee. These two leaders along with several others have been dedicated in identifying, advocating, and collaboratively working with stakeholders to improve the safety and barriers for students and families to commute to school whether it be by walking, biking, busing, driving or any other means.

During the first few months of this year, we have been learning about the Pilot Program through virtual presentations by BC Healthy Communities. As we move into Spring, we will be collecting data from our students, parents, families, teachers, staff, administration, and community stakeholders. We will be working with and listening to our community members and stakeholders to identify and advocate areas to improve safety and promote active school travel.

Yennadon PAC will be working to find ways to enhance our “Walk and Wheel Everyday” events and Bike to School Week participation. Through this, we hope to motivate and influence more students, family and staff to choose active school transportation to and from school. This will help move our community forward by improving health, air quality, social connection and safety.

We are excited to share that Yennadon Elementary School’s grade 6 & 7 students will be participating in a TransLink workshop in the beginning of April to learn how to safely commute on BC Transit. Yennadon Elementary School is enrolled in this year’s Hub Cycling – Bike to School Week scheduled for May 30- June 3rd, 2022. Many more programs and events will be rolled out at our school this Spring and Fall to promote active school travel, rain or shine! ”

Bob D’Eith, MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission, when contacted by HUB Cycling, commented on Yennadon’s selection into the program.

“Having the Active School Travel Pilot program at Yennadon is very exciting for the community, and I’m thankful to all the parents and advocates who have been working hard to get something like this in our community. It’s always great when we can get kids (and grownups) outside, and I hope it encourages more people to get out and use active transportation as a part of their daily commute if they are able.

I think it’s really wonderful that Maple Ridge gets to be a part of this project, and possibly inform similar programs at other schools across the Province and here in our community. I’m really looking forward to following up and seeing what kind of impact this has at Yennadon and to see groups of kids walking, cycling, and rolling to school in the mornings!”

Ultimately, the success of the program will be predicated upon the support of the parents by actively encouraging their children to become more physically active, and these parents providing input to the program to make it a viable, fun and safe alternative to driving their children to and from school.

MR/PM HUB is available to support any PAC groups or parents who would like information on how they can initiate programs and create plans to improve the AST participation of students at their schools. If you are interested in this for your school, please contact mapleridge-pittmeadows@bikehub.ca

(Photo credit: spokesmama.com)