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news
Stanley Park High School (via Google Street View).JPGLondon school makes pupils who cycle put number plates on bikes
A south London school has ordered pupils who cycle to class to put number plates on their bikes so that members of the public can report instances of antisocial cycling.
The move was communicated to parents of the 1,200 children at Stanley Park High School in Carshalton – named Secondary School of the Year for 2016 by the Times Education Supplement – in a bulletin from the school’s head teacher, Amit Amin.
He wrote: “Last week we asked parents to encourage their child to cycle. However, we are aware that across the borough, there are some children who are cycling in a way that endangers themselves and others.
“We have decided to introduce a cycle registration scheme, and students who cycle to school will soon be issued with a bicycle number plate which must be displayed when riding to and from school,” he continued.
“This will help us to identify students who are putting themselves at risk. Students without a number plate will not be permitted to cycle to school, or lock their bicycles on school grounds.”
“A letter will be issued to parents and carers with further details this week, which must be signed and returned to school before the plates are issued,” he added.
“This is seen as a measure to ensure the safety of our students who cycle, and a way of tackling the concerns drawn to our attention by recent reports.”
Over the past year, we have reported on a number of schools around the country that have sought to impose rules on students wanting to get there by bike.
Those include making cycle helmets mandatory and requiring pupils to pass a safety test before they are allowed to ride a bike to school, and one school in Derby even threatened to ban children from getting there by bike following complaints of antisocial cycling.
Earlier this year, Cycling UK urged schools to stop imposing rules that it says make it more difficult for children to cycle there.
> https://road.cc/content/news/233754-cycling-uk-urges-“stop-making-cycling-school-difficult”
The charity has also published a guide highlighting how they can encourage more children to ride bikes, with Duncan Dollimore, its head of campaigns and advocacy, saying: “Active pupils are frequently healthier and more attentive students.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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66 comments
Aside from the 'no legal right' point .... I wonder who is footing the bill for this?
Is the school paying for the number plates, or are they expecting the parents to pay for this lunacy?
I also wonder what these plates look like and how they attach to the bike. As far as I'm aware, you cannot simply nip down to the local bike shop to buy a number plate - so they will need to be manufactured espically?
Please can someone help me to understand? I am getting on in years now and I am either losing touch with modern language or getting confused as I get older.
Quote “Last week we asked parents to encourage their child to cycle. However, we are aware that across the borough, there are some children who are cycling in a way that endangers themselves and others. Unquote
Point 1 - The school are asking the parents to encourage their child to cycle however are now doing their best to discourage the pupil?
Point 2 - aware that children across the borough are cycling in a way that endangers themselves and others. Do all the children in that borough go to that school? Are they not recognisable by their uniform?
Point 3 - What business is it of the school to enforce a registration system off of the school premises? It is after all the public highway and cyclists do not require registration.
Point 4 - jimmyd; vonhemlet is right, you really are missing the point in your real world.
No, you are missing the point. The school has no authority. They can make all the rules they want about pupil behaviour outside school premises and school hours, but they have no authority to enforce such rules.
I hope these number plates are safe and don't give rise in any injury in the event of any accident. To the child or to any pedestrian, or hEaven forbid anyone's precIous car !
I wonder what the before and after numbers are for cycling when the new unlawful regime changes are brought in. I was lucky in that my sons school never had any of this guff though he did leave in 2008, it was a top performing state school. Sadly the school removed the 100 or so spots that were fully covered AND locked by the site manager and unlocked at lunch/leaving time or upon request during the day, they now have 30 partially covered places and the rest are locked to the railings of the school totally exposed to the elements, it's a total fuck up, yet there's loads of space for the bus/taxis/parents cars to drop off kids which makes it absolutely chaotic at both ends of the day.
The whole attitude to cycling to school is massively wrong in this country and they wonder why kids are not really encouraged to take up cycling with either rules beyond the remit/not lawful and/or ignorance of the real issues at hand.
Fucking shameful.
Put number plate in school bag. Attach when you get to school. Photocopy at will, nick them off the other kids bikes. So many opportunities to learn about disobeying petty officialdom that should steer these kids to becoming strong, independent adults with powers of critical thinking.
Or just cover it up with a plastic bag.
"It must have been my long coat that obscured the plate".
Obvious solution, kids. Follow the example of motorists!
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/27/number-plate-cloning-drive...
I'd be curious what sort of restraints the head teach places on parents who drive their kids to school. On my commute I pass a rather well known school, one of the top performing state schools in the country and which was attended by a rather famous rock star who has his name on a facility in the place. Anyway, the parents regularly park their 4x4s on the pavement to disgorge their offspring, despite the presence of double yellow lines. They also make dangerous u-turns outside the school premises, despite the presence of other vehicles and kids crossing the road.
Once I get a new helemt mount for my Contour, I'll send the head teacher some footage. I'm getting rather annoyed by the poor driving of parents on the school run. And to be honest, it does put some kids at risk.
Seems a good idea. Glad to see a school being pro active for once.
I commute to work on a bike and make sure I avoid schools at peak times as don't want to have an accident with a kid doing a wheelie along the road.
if they ride sensibly the kids will have nothing to worry about - plus they won't get mashed up by a car.
You're missing the point that the school has no authority whatsoever to do this...
Besides, the scrotes causing trouble can just pop their number plate at the last corner before they get to school.
Nope not missing the point at all. I just live in the real world where everyday I have to abide by rules that I may not necessarily agree with but I still abide by them and sometimes it's so petty it's just not worth the hassle so you let it go. This is a prime example. If the parents and pupils have a problem they can walk to school, or even walk to another less strict school.
You'd have a point if they weren't exceeding their powers.
Anyone exceeeding their powers should be challenged otherwise we wouldn't have ombudsmen, judicial reviews and internal work grievance processes.
You avoid schools to mitigate the risks of being hit by kids pulling wheelies? As opposed to being squashed by school-run drivers who aren't paying proper attention?
That's not just missing the point: that's living in a parallel universe.
I'm making a rule that you aren’t allowed on the internet any more.
You may not necessarily agree with my rule, but as you have already explained that as a denizen of ‘the real world’ you feel you have to abide by all rules, no matter how arbitrary and entirely lacking in legal legitimacy they might be, I trust you will do the same with this one.
If you have a problem you can communicate your views to the world by means of shouting in the street or distributing hand-written leaflets to passers-by.
Meanwhile in the real world, there are countless examples of unfair and discriminatory rules and many brave and honourable people have stood up against those rules, sometimes paying with their freedom or lives.
Civil disobedience is our duty when we encounter such unfair rules, especially when they are being brought in by someone who has ABSOLUTELY ZERO authority to enforce them.
Your attitude is quite simply disgusting and an insult to everyone who values freedom.
Clearly JimmyD you ride to and from work with a large badge attached, readily readable from a car that has your name, address, phone number and insurance details in case someone takes exception to your riding. If not why should the children?
Apologies, mate ... but that is just off-the-wall.
I'm a supply teacher, and work in schools all around W Yorkshire - commuting by bike. Same time as the kids cycling into school.
Trust me - your fear of the odd kid pulling a wheelie is misplaced.
The really terrifying thing is the way "adults" in four wheels treat "kids" on bikes with utter and complete disdain.
It'd be a fair guess that most of the contributors on this thread are adults, and most of us have issues with the way we get treated by motorists. Please trust me - our issues as adults are NOTHING compared to the intimidation and aggression experienced by "kids".
Your "If they ride sensibly ..." is (sadly) ... "Get on to the pavement, lads and lasses."
I hope they'll start enforcing road tax next...
How big are they proposing this 'number plate' should be so that it is more effective than identifying the rider by sight?
Surely the 'number plate' should be on the child not the bike.
Safest option is to brand them. Or maybe barcodes on the forearm to gain access to the bike sheds
Kids behaving like kids. Should be fake news.
What do they do with the number plates of all the cars that drive in an antisocial manner in the borough?
What law gives schools that right to impose number plates outside of school hours and grounds?
When did head masters and teachers become police officers enforcing “the law”?
Exactly. Outside school premises and school hours, students are just folk, nothing to do with the school. They could insist on number plates on school premises to get you a parking space, possibly, but I don’t see how they could insist on it for “travelling to and from school”.
Sorry: duplicate post
Not true actually, schools have a duty of care to students (just as employers do to their employees) - that duty of care, for a schoolchild, is in place from as soon as the child leaves their house (or parents care i.e. car).
This is why schools don't care about how parents park/drive. The school's duty of care to a child end as soon as they are picked up by their parents
Despite this, as far as I am aware, the school has no power to enforce number plates on bikes.
Schools spend all their time covering their asses to try and get good Ofsted ratings, which leads to lunacy, like number plates on bikes.
No, that's incorrect.
The school has no responsibility for your child outside school premises except on school-organised excursions.
The school staff may think it's important - for the image of the school* - to control errant behaviour by children wearing their uniform outside the school grounds but that's a wish and certainly not their job.
NOBODY has the right to enforce number plates on bicycles.
* this kind of thing is almost always done because it is in the best interest of the school. Sadly, we've been here before e.g.
Nov 2017 https://road.cc/content/news/232269-surrey-school-says-students-can-only...
Dec 2017 https://road.cc/content/news/233703-school-brings-detentions-children-wh...
Mar 2018 https://road.cc/content/news/238318-derby-school-threatens-ban-pupils-cy...
Schools definitely have a duty of care and level of responsibility with regards to travel between home and school - Ofsted judges them (in part) on this. They don't have any way of enforcing these policies off the school site (they can on-site however) - the school I was at tried to do something stupidly similar.
See section 47 "The EIA 2006 empowers headteachers to take action to address unacceptable behaviour even when this takes place outside the school premises and when pupils are not under the legal control of the school, but when it is reasonable to do so."
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...
They have no legal control over the students, but, as I said, the school will be judged based in part on this.
I only came out of school a few years ago, the school I went to was deemed as "needs improving" by Ofsted with regards to child safety to and from school.
So schools come up with these stupid ideas to try and please Ofsted.
I'm not following how that link is relevant. It states it is for local authorities but a school is not a local authority.
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