This course is for children aged 11 or over who want to improve their skills after successfully completing Bikeability Level 2 Residential Road Cycling Course.

It will give children the confidence to tackle a wider variety of traffic conditions on more challenging roads and junctions.

The 2-and-a-half-hour course is for children who live or go to school in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole. It covers:

• responding to hazards
• making ‘on-the-move’ risk assessments
• passing queuing traffic
• understanding advanced road positioning
• hazard perception and strategies to deal with them
• understanding driver blind spots, particularly for large vehicles
• reacting to hazardous road surfaces
• route planning for safer cycling

Bikeability Level 3 is only for children aged 11 and above, who have already completed Bikeability Level 2 and want to improve their skills on more challenging roads and junctions. Do not book a place on this course if your child has not completed Level 2 unless you have discussed this with the Road Safety office first (Tel: 01202 127 867/01202 123 982). Their cycling skills will be assessed at the beginning of the course and if the instructors do not feel they are ready for this course, they will not be able to take part.

Not every child is ready for Level 3 after completing Level 2, so talk to your child's instructor at the end of their Level 2 course to find out if they feel they are ready before booking them a place.

We do not allow the use of BMX bikes on a Level 3 course due to the restrictions they place on the rider's vision and mobility.

Booking

We offer our free Bikeability courses to all of our BCP Council primary and secondary schools, to year 4 and above. Our aim is for every child in primary school to have achieved their Bikeability Level 2 (Residential Road Cycle Training) before they leave for secondary school. If your child is in year 6 and has not yet had Bikeability offered to them in their school, please email us at bikeability@bcpcouncil.gov.uk so we can contact the school to book their course in. The school will also be offered the relevant Bikeability Learn to Ride, Level 1 and Level 3 training as appropriate for their school and students.

We may offer some very limited holiday courses later in the year but currently we’re not running any until all our schools have made their bookings for the current academic year. It is far more beneficial for your child to complete their Bikeability course within their school day, when they’re in a learning mindset, in their local residential area, so the roads they’re learning their cycle skills on are relevant to their home to school journey and it also removes the risk of non-attendees on courses, which costs us a lot of our Bikeability funding every year.

Instructors

Our instructors are all fully qualified to the national standard, DBS checked and trained in first aid. They also receive regular safeguarding training.

Contact us

If you have a query regarding our courses, please call the Bikeability Team on 01202 127 867/ 01202 123 982 or email bikeability@bcpcouncil.gov.uk. If there are no current holiday courses available, please email us and we will place you on our waiting list and you will be notified when courses are available.

Sometimes emails may get caught in the junk or spam folder, so check these if you’re expecting an email from us.

Funding

The Bikeability Scheme is funded by Active Travel England via The Bikeability Trust.