Keeping Safe On Our Bikes with Officer Cree

On Friday 4th of March Officer Cree came to Halcombe School to teach Room's 1 and 2 about bike safety. We started in the classroom where Officer Cree showed us how to put our helmets on properly. Before you put your helmet on you need to check that it has no cracks in it.

The first thing you need to do when you put your helmet on is slip it over your eyebrows. This is because it needs to protect your forehead and your brain. The next thing you need to check are the side straps. The straps that go around our ears need to form a tight V that finishes just under your ear. The third thing to check is that the chin strap is nice and tight. You should be able to fit 1 finger in between the strap and your chin and you should still be able to talk. It must be very tight. It is important that all the straps are tight and secure so that your helmet doesn't slip forwards and backwards, especially if you have a crash. If you have knobs at the back of your helmet you need to tighten them up last.

Officer Cree said that skating helmets were not the best helmets for protecting your head when you are on a bike because they do not do a good job of protecting your forehead.

We left the classroom and practiced putting on our helmets safely. Then we got into four groups and took our bikes to the court where Officer Cree had set up an obstacle course.

Everyone took turns riding their bikes up the court and around the cones. Officer Cree told us it was important to focus on skill and technique. It was not a race. It was important to slow down because you might crash into another person or the cones.

Some of the techniques we practiced included getting on and off your bike on the left side of your bike. This is important so that the chain on the bike does not hurt you. It is also important if you are on the rode to get on and off your bike on the left side so that your bike is in between you and the cars.

We learnt how to indicate using our arms. If you are turning left you need to hold out your left arm. If you are turning right, you need to hold out your right arm. It is important to indicate so that other people on the road know where you are going and then you wont have a crash. Before you indicate and turn, you must look over your shoulder to check that no cars or other traffic are coming.

It is very important to stop for pedestrians so that no one gets hurt or run over. We practiced with Mrs Davies' class and Mrs Turner's class when they were going to the pool.

At the end of the day Sophia thanked Officer Cree on behalf of all of us. Then we said good bye and went back to class.

We all really enjoyed learning with Officer Cree because it is important to learn how to keep ourselves safe on our bikes.

We are all really proud of each other and ourselves because everyone had a great attitude towards the day. We all showed Officer Cree respect, and everyone was an adventurer because we all took risks. The best thing about the day was that we all achieved something new! We learnt lots of things about keeping ourselves safe and we can all ride safely on the road.