Tom rolls out bike-to-school reward scheme as fellow pupils flock to join

A SCHOOLBOY'S campaign to encourage fellow pupils to cycle from home is to be extended across Edinburgh after proving a huge success.

Tom Sparks came up with the idea for his pedals not petrol campaign when he was 14.

After convincing scores of fellow pupils at James Gillespie's High, he won 10,000 from the Scottish Government to expand the project last year.

Now it is to be extended to other high schools, offering hundreds more students the chance to earn gift vouchers as a reward for cycling to school.

Tom, now 17, will work with teachers at secondary schools including Liberton, Gracemount and St Thomas of Aquin's to help them get their own versions of the scheme off the ground.

Since the start of the year, pupils at James Gillespie's who cycle to school have been rewarded with points, which are later turned into gift vouchers.

It has proved so popular that the initial three-month trial has now been turned into a permanent scheme.

Tom, who is trying to win more funding to expand the project even further, said: "At the moment we are providing some bike mechanic training for teachers with the remainder of the funding from last time.

"Five people are going to be trained from my school and another seven staff members from other schools in the area so they can run bike clubs similar to our own.

"The teachers who are going from the other schools are very enthusiastic and seem confident of getting support for it from pupils at their schools.

"Even if starts with just a few pupils, I can see that it's going to get bigger and that those kids coming along to the bike clubs at Gillespie's are having fun.

"The number of people cycling to school has increased notably, although because it's winter I suspect it will be dropping back, but it will pick up again next year."

Tom, of Fairmilehead, will be joining teachers in gaining a specialised qualification in cycle maintenance, called the Weldtech Gold Award.

It will help those running the clubs pass on basic maintenance and other cycling tips to bike club members.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, said: "This is a fantastic initiative and I am pleased to see it could potentially be used by other schools.

"Tom certainly deserves praise for coming up with the scheme and I look forward to hearing of its future success."