Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2013

/ 21

ON YA BIKE!

ARTICLE

MR STEPHEN FOGARTY, DIRECTOR OF HEALTH STUDIES

AUTHOR

Year 8 students ride bikes as part of the cycling unit in Term III in preparation for their Year 9 overnight expedition at Marrapatta — a camping experience that involves cycling and canoeing. As part of the Year 10 experience at the Memorial Outdoor Education Centre, students are able to return to the bikes as they get to know the sixty kilometre ‘Noosa Trail Journey’, in and around Pomona. Cycling forms part of the ‘Fit for Life’ unit in Year 11 Health Studies and, importantly, provides the means of transport for all Year 11 and Year 12 Senior Physical Education students as they make their way from School to the Victoria Park Golf Complex during their tertiary entrance-based Golf units. For a student at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, cycling can be a way to get from point A to point B, it can be a way to maintain fitness and it can be a way to challenge oneself both mentally and physically. Most importantly, it is fun. Despite the growing efforts of city councils, cycling in built-up areas remains a relatively difficult pastime for adolescents. The School is proud to be able to provide safe yet challenging environments for girls to get on their bikes!

ALBERT EINSTEIN IS REPUTED TO have developed the Theory of Relativity while riding his bicycle. According to author Elizabeth West, ‘progress should have stopped when [we] invented the bicycle’ because, in doing so, we reached the peak of our attainments. Cycling continues to hold its place in the collective thinking of Australians. A bike is still a much sought-after gift for children during times of significant celebration, and one need only look to our roads on weekends to see that people continue to value cycling as a form of exercise. The students at Brisbane Girls Grammar are fortunate that the School also sees great merit in cycling. The School maintains a fleet of fifty bicycles for curriculum use during Health Studies classes with an additional thirty- five programme-specific bicycles available for use at Marrapatta, our Memorial Outdoor Education Centre in the Mary Valley.

REFERENCES West, E. (1977). Hovel in the hills: An account of the simple life . Cardiff: John Jones Publishing.

SPRING ISSUE / 2013