It was wonderful to meet with staff at the Academy last month to chat through some ideas for the school making use of the West Lothian Cycle Circuit, and volunteering opportunities for young people within the town.
The proximity of the cycle circuit site to the Academy offers many of possibilities for school pupils – from setting up an After School Cycling Club, running bike maintenance classes, and opportunities to learn about organising cycling events and cycle coaching, as part of the school’s Sport Leader course. We also talked about the potential for developing the Academy as a School of Cycling, replicating the successful School of Rugby model. The floodlit circuit will also provide a great facility for the school running club to use when evenings start getting darker.
We discussed how the Trust can help match young people to local volunteering opportunities, as well as helping local groups tailor volunteering opportunities to suit needs and skills of young people. As a result, we will soon be speaking to S5 and S6 pupils about volunteering as part of their Personal Development Programme. Volunteering can build life skills, strengthen CVs and give young people a chance to contribute to the local community, and make a difference to society. We are also going to meet with the Pupil Council to find out how pupils might want to get involved in a Community Cake to meet local groups looking for new volunteers.