Yorkshire launches first Tour de France education pack
Issued by City of York Council
Yorkshire is getting into gear with the launch of the first ever Tour de France school’s resource pack – for teachers, community leaders and parents of young people aged from 7 to 14 – with the help of two of Yorkshires cycling stars, Dean and Russell Downing.
The free pack is the first initiative to be showcased as part of the region’s commitment to building a 10 year cycling legacy in Yorkshire under the newly established Cycle Yorkshire banner, and can be downloaded from Cycle Yorkshire.
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “This first ever education pack to accompany a Tour de France promises to provide students with an engaging and exciting way of supporting their wider learning while tapping into the Tour coming to our region.
“It is one key part of a number of initiatives that will make up our legacy programme of Yorkshire’s Grand Départ.”
Kersten England, Regional Tour de France Legacy lead, said: “This is a great free resource that we’ve developed with Sustrans to get children across Yorkshire – and beyond – involved with the Tour de France as an event, but also cycling – for sport or just for fun.
“Local Authorities and cycling partners across the region are working together to make this a great region for safe cycling, inspiring more people to cycle more often.
“Key to this vision is ensuring future generations of cyclists understand the benefits of cycling and access to the skills, facilities and equipment to cycle confidently and safely, wherever they are.”
Cllr Dave Merrett, City of York Council Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability, said: “The Cycle Yorkshire legacy will help us to fulfil our aims in York of increasing cycling by 20 per cent by 2016.
“This will help to reinforce our position as one of the best cities in the country to cycle in for both transport and for leisure. Over the next year I hope that we will start to see more young people cycling whether this is to school or for fun.”
Paul Osborne, Sustrans Programme Manager in Yorkshire, said: “We’re really excited to help launch this fantastic resource which draws on the excitement of the Tour de France to inspire thousands of children to cycle to school.
“Up and down the country, Sustrans works with over 2000 schools encouraging pupils to be more active by cycling. In Yorkshire, the numbers of pupils cycling regularly more than doubled after just one year of working with Sustrans.
“With the average primary school journey being just 1.5 miles – the perfect distance to cycle – this resource is a great asset when promoting cycling as a healthy, green and practical travel choice.”
The educational pack ties into the National Curriculum for Key Stages 2 and 3. It includes lesson plans for Art & Media, Design Technology, French, Geography, History, ICT, Literacy, Maths, Music, PHSE, Science and PE.
The 101st running of Le Tour will start in Leeds on July 5 with a 190km stage taking the riders to the spa town of Harrogate. Stage 2 will start from York with the riders tackling a 200km stage with climbs including Holme Moss on the way to Sheffield.
To download the educational pack for free please visit Le Tour Yorkshire.
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