have you seen this??

In message <[email hidden]>, Jane
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/Domestic/threadview?bn=UK-NEWS-DOM-Lon
don+Ungerground&tid=3558&mid=3558&tof=1&m=tm&rt=2

have any of you heard about the new test??

ttfn
Jane

I've just seen on (was John Craven's) Newsround about a new scheme
called BikeAbility to replace the cycling proficiency test. Its a 3 part
scheme with the emphasis on children learning to ride safely on roads as
follows,

Part 1: School Playground
Part 2: Quiet roads
Part 3: Main roads.

There are no tests as such but the children are observed and get badges
as they attain the appropriate skill levels.
--
Bob Downie
Downie GeoScience Ltd.
please remove #n0spam# to reply directly

Jane said:

http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/Domestic/threadview?bn=UK-NEWS-DOM-London+Ungerground&tid=3558&mid=3558&tof=1&m=tm&rt=2

have any of you heard about the new test??

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Mike

Mike Causer said:

Jane said:

http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/Domestic/threadview?bn=UK-NEWS-DOM-London+Ungerground&tid=3558&mid=3558&tof=1&m=tm&rt=2

have any of you heard about the new test??

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

...d

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

You're right, funny it was working this morning. If you've been following
what Tom Crispin has been doing there isn't anything really new, except
for rolling it out to more schools.

Mike

Mike Causer said:

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

You're right, funny it was working this morning. If you've been following
what Tom Crispin has been doing there isn't anything really new, except
for rolling it out to more schools.

Maybe the cleaners unplugge it to plug in the hoover?

...d

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

You're right, funny it was working this morning. If you've been
following what Tom Crispin has been doing there isn't anything really
new, except for rolling it out to more schools.

Maybe the cleaners unplugge it to plug in the hoover?

I've seen /that/ happen. In this case a junior Minister (of Gov't not
God) was supposed to make a speach introducing it today, but he resigned
yesterday. So I suspect that the techies put the new website up as
previously instructed, then were told to take it down again.

OTOH cockup trumps conspiracy every time.

Mike

Mike Causer said:

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

... there isn't anything really new, except
for rolling it out to more schools.

It seems to be a much more friendly presentation of the National Standards,
so it is very much a branding exercise.

There is also clearer explanation of where the £15m funding is to be used,
although I'm not sure I like the linking to Sustrans too much. £3.5m is going
on infrastructure projects in the first year with only £450k on training. The
balance does change though over the three year programme.

It also looks as if there will be encouragement for Assistant Instructors.

In general it looks to be quite good (I haven't read all teh reams of paper
yet) and should make the new training a lot more accessible. The addition of
special needs and disabled children into the NS is good news.

The aims are high - in five years no child should leave primary school
without the opportunity to get their Bikeability (National Standard)
training.
With the reluctance of some LAs to become involved I remain cynical on this.
My hope is that these LAs will be muscled out by other providers.

NS instructors and providers will also be able to award Bikeability badges
and Certificates.

John B

John B said:

It seems to be a much more friendly presentation of the National Standards,
so it is very much a branding exercise.

It is a [censored] one in one respect.

Branding lesson 1. make your name easily googleable. We do this for all
our software names so that people can find the web site.

If you put 'bikeability' into google you get 20,000 hits.

If you put bikeright in you get 24,000

It needs a short catchy name but I can't think of one right now.

Having said all that, it is good that it *is* being branded and pushed.
Something to start kicking up a fuss about at local level as soon as it
is announced.

...d

David Martin said:

John B said:

It seems to be a much more friendly presentation of the National Standards,
so it is very much a branding exercise.

It needs a short catchy name but I can't think of one right now.

Having said all that, it is good that it *is* being branded and pushed.
Something to start kicking up a fuss about at local level as soon as it
is announced.

I'd advise the earlier the better. The national launch is planned for April
2007.
LAs and others will be setting budgets for 2007/8 now, so as much pressure as
possible should be put on them to allocate resources to the scheme. Now is the
time to be contacting local Councillors and so on.

Current NS instructors are already delivering the 'Bikeability' training, but,
AIUI the branding is to be used only in a selected number of areas prior to the
national launch.

John B

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

It's back now. John B's comments are pertinent. Sorry John, I should
have included you with the Tom C remark.

Mike

John B said:

I'd advise the earlier the better. The national launch is planned for April
2007.

Which variant of national? It looks like an England only scheme at
present. Maybe I should drop a line to Cycling Scotland.

Quoted message said:

LAs and others will be setting budgets for 2007/8 now, so as much pressure as
possible should be put on them to allocate resources to the scheme. Now is the
time to be contacting local Councillors and so on.

I will do so, and my MP/MSP.

Quoted message said:

Current NS instructors are already delivering the 'Bikeability' training, but,
AIUI the branding is to be used only in a selected number of areas prior to the
national launch.

hmm.. see above for versions of 'national'.

...d

"Mike Causer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

David Martin said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

My local rag picked it up yesterday from an item in the Sun (the journos
there obviously can't do the big words in the qualities) and rang me up for
some comments.

I wonder if the epithet they like to use with me of Bike Hugger will appear?

T

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John B said:

I'd advise the earlier the better. The national launch is planned for
April
2007.

Which variant of national? It looks like an England only scheme at
present. Maybe I should drop a line to Cycling Scotland.

England -- a nation within the United Kingdom

Quoted message said:

national launch.

hmm.. see above for versions of 'national'.

Surely you have national launches in Scotland too.

T

David Martin said:

John B said:

I'd advise the earlier the better. The national launch is planned for April
2007.

Which variant of national? It looks like an England only scheme at
present. Maybe I should drop a line to Cycling Scotland.

Absolutely.
Whilst the National Standards are a UK wide cycling standard, the announced funding
for increasing training only applies to England. Both 'Scottish Road Safety' and
'Cycling Scotland' are listed as part of the CTRG (Cycle Training Reference Group)
who oversee the NS scheme.

However, AFAICS, no Scottish specific organisation is listed as a member of the
Bikeability Steering Group.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

LAs and others will be setting budgets for 2007/8 now, so as much pressure as
possible should be put on them to allocate resources to the scheme. Now is the
time to be contacting local Councillors and so on.

I will do so, and my MP/MSP.

Quoted message said:

Current NS instructors are already delivering the 'Bikeability' training, but,
AIUI the branding is to be used only in a selected number of areas prior to the
national launch.

hmm.. see above for versions of 'national'.

If I were outside England iId certainly be asking whether the Bikeability branding
could be used for the NS training in my area, even if the funding for training
development were not available.
Something to progress?

John B

in message <[email hidden]>, John B

(') said:

Mike Causer said:

David Martin said:

> http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Appears to be dead..

... there isn't anything really new, except
for rolling it out to more schools.

It seems to be a much more friendly presentation of the National
Standards, so it is very much a branding exercise.

Clarification, please: is this England and Wales only, or is it a United
Kingdom initiative? I don't see any Scottish endorsement on the website.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'Victories are not solutions.'
;; John Hume, Northern Irish politician, on Radio Scotland 1/2/95
;; Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1998; few have deserved it so much

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, John B

(') said:

It seems to be a much more friendly presentation of the National
Standards, so it is very much a branding exercise.

Clarification, please: is this England and Wales only, or is it a United
Kingdom initiative? I don't see any Scottish endorsement on the website.

As already replied to David, while the NS are UK wide, the funding for the
training elements of Bikeability are England only, at least that's what
Cycling England's proposed programme states.

However it is unclear (to me) whether the Bikeability 'branding' and Awards
are available to NS instructors outside England.

if I were a Scottish Instructor, I'd certainly be pushing for them to be
made available to _all_ NS instructors as well as lobbying for funding
support.

Whatever the geographical limitations of this scheme it is at least good to
see support being given to places other than London.
Whether the more reticent LAs are attracted is another matter.

This morning I had two of my contributions used on our local radio station
as they were trying to push the view that the roads were too dangerous tfor
riding to school.
Next week there is another feature on training being lined up.
It seems that Bikeability is a good step in raising the profile of cycle
training.

John B

Quoting David Martin <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Branding lesson 1. make your name easily googleable. We do this for all
our software names so that people can find the web site.

The point was driven home to me after a recent Whitby Goth Weekend where I
heard and enjoyed a band called "The Modern".

Now they are well known enough to be linked to enough to be Googleable but
at the time it was flat-out impossible. Mind you, since their Webshite is a
steaming mass of Flash, this is no great loss.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Kill the tomato!
Today is Brieday, August.

In article said:

Quoting David Martin <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Branding lesson 1. make your name easily googleable. We do this for all
our software names so that people can find the web site.

The point was driven home to me after a recent Whitby Goth Weekend where I
heard and enjoyed a band called "The Modern".

I've heard someone trying to find "The The" on Amazon at a time when
their search engine said something to the effect of "we have ignored
the common word 'the' in your query" - with no quoting option to force
it to be considered. (It's better now - does return a set of JCB
screwdrivers, but only after a load of appropriate CDs.)

"Bob Downie" <BobMail@downie-geo#n0spam#.co.uk> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Jane
<[email hidden]> writes

http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/Domestic/threadview?bn=UK-NEWS-DOM

-Lon

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

don+Ungerground&tid=3558&mid=3558&tof=1&m=tm&rt=2

have any of you heard about the new test??

ttfn
Jane

I've just seen on (was John Craven's) Newsround about a new scheme
called BikeAbility to replace the cycling proficiency test. Its a 3

part

Quoted message said:

scheme with the emphasis on children learning to ride safely on

roads as

Quoted message said:

follows,

Part 1: School Playground
Part 2: Quiet roads
Part 3: Main roads.

[snip]

The old new scheme, the "National Standards" had tables of what you
were supposd to know for each level. Are those tables still the
same, and are they posted on the web?

In London there's a controversy about qualifying instructors,
specifically about grandfathering those who have already been
teaching for a long time. What's the nationwide situation?

Jeremy Parker