Advance in Action
The students at Bayside Secondary College in Altona North are now safer and better bike riders, thanks to the Advance program.
John Nguyen of 9C said the program which involved bike safety and creating a pamphlet on how to ride to school safely for younger students had taught them that if “we all work together, we can do anything faster and more effectively.”
John said the students discussed the bike-riding theme for their Advance program and the community project. "For the first few lessons we did practice rides within the school and practised the road rules so they could get ready for the real thing.
“We learnt to signal when turning and to warn others of oncoming cars. Another thing that was important was to complete a safety check on the bike before each time we rode. Checking the brakes, tyres, gears, seat height we all completed.”
The next few weeks of classes was spent preparing for the group’s four-day riding camp from Maldon to Ballarat - a distance of 140 km.
“After the camp we were assigned to a new task. This was to complete our chosen Community Project. We chose to create a pamphlet to give our new Grade 7 students an idea on how and where to ride to school safely.
“As part of our Advance course we also learnt about volunteering - why people are involved, what they get out of it and the different types of volunteering. This made us think about volunteering ourselves. “
John said an important part of the Advance Program was to complete the Level I First Aid Course.
“The instructor taught us about DRABCD which represents: Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing and Circulation and Deadly Bleeding. She also taught us about managing an unconscious patient, a patient suffering from shock and different types of bites and stings.
“The Advance Course has taught us many things. We will remember these things for a very long time - like First Aid. This will be helpful not only at home but in sport and when we start working in a job. The Advance Program helped us and changed us. I never would have known about the safe riding skills we covered in class.
“I am now a safe and better rider. I also learnt about teamwork while doing the Community project and organising the camp.”
Read more about the Advance Program.
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