Bringing the outside in…

Hi! I’m Lucy and I work for Sustrans as a ‘Bike It’ Officer in schools across Brighton and Hove. I loves riding my bike and walking, getting outside into nature and moving for my physical and mental health. During lockdown I think it’s especially important to be active and I have found that moving is key for my wellbeing.

Sustrans has been working in schools across Brighton and Hove for 14 years to promote an active and sustainable travel culture in the school community. With my fellow officer Ben Sherratt I have run thousands of sustainable initiatives and active travel activities to improve health and wellbeing, reduce congestion and vehicle emissions, and improve the local neighbourhoods around schools.

As officers we work in schools delivering activities including learn to ride, playground bike and scooter skills sessions, School Streets, maintenance lessons, Dr Bike, assemblies, family and whole class bike rides, air quality lessons and much more. We work in partnership with our school Bike Champion member of staff and a Bike Crew of children and young people who decide the direction the project takes in their school.

We also work closely with partners such as Sussex Wildlife Trust and South Downs National Parks on the collaborative ‘Bike to Nature’ projects, to access the local natural environment. Through this collaboration, we have taken hundreds of young people on bikes into the outdoors to learn about nature and the special habitats and wildlife that inhabit the local area.

Over the years, Ben’s role has expanded to focus on pupil wellbeing, working with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and Pupil Referral Units to engage with and support children and young people in crisis. Ben is a trained practitioner in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and works alongside other staff within the Public Health team to deliver MHFA training to staff and pupils within schools and the community.

The ‘Bike It’ project provides enriching opportunities for the pupils to learn skills, gain confidence, and to become more independent. The project also promotes positive wellbeing and mental health. This helps to encourage regular cycling and to build an active travel culture both inside and outside of school.

Bring the Outside In - Summer activity!

During lockdown we have launched Sustrans Outside In, a four week feature, that can be started at any time, offering fun and educational resources to families across the UK. It’s packed with activities for children, including games, challenges and videos. It includes indoor and outdoor activities suitable for range of ages meaning there’s something in there for everyone.

Walking, cycling and scooting are great ways to contribute to keeping us active and healthy in body and mind. During this time where we are mostly required to stay at home, these activities become harder to do. Sustrans Outside In therefore aims to provide ideas and inspiration to bring health and wellbeing activities into the home.

The activities are created around five themes: wellbeing, keeping active, creativity, investigating and anything goes!

Activities include tasks to design the ideal child-friendly street; a challenge for children to ‘rainbow bling’ their bicycle helmets, and a number of other challenges, games and activities to keep children active whilst at home.

Clare, a parent, said: “The Sustrans Outside In resources are giving us a fun challenge that compliments home schooling. They have different options for older and younger kids and my son has really enjoyed them, you can see that from the creativity. For the Bike Floor Art, I helped him make the bike shape but he collected the items and we talked about what would work and what wouldn’t and moved things around to get the shapes right!”

Clare’s son Robin, 6 years old, says “The Bike Floor Art and board game were really amazing. Making the bike floor art we used things from all over the house including clothes, toys and food!”

Outside In is a brilliant set of activities for summer!

·       It’s a Free resource

·       With four weeks of fun packed activities

·       Join anytime and you will still get four weeks of activities

·       Five themed activity days, plus one challenge each week

·       It includes videos and games to support physical and mental wellbeing

Sign up for some summer fun with #SustransOutsideIn www.sustrans.org.uk/Outside-In