Headlands crowned top Welsh school in Sustrans Big Pedal Challenge

Action for Children’s Headlands School in Penarth has achieved the highest-ranking Welsh school and top six UK-wide school in the Sustrans Big Pedal Challenge 2021.

Sustrans Big Pedal is the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge and has been taking place this year from 19 to 30 April.  Big Pedal has been running for 11 years and has inspired hundreds of thousands of pupils, staff and parents to take active journeys to school.

Over 2,000 schools have registered for the challenge with over 750,000 pupils taking part in 3.2 million active journeys.

Headlands School is an independent special school that offers day and residential placements for boys and girls aged 7 to 19 who have difficulty learning as a result of early trauma, complex emotional and social issues, Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and Asperger’s Syndrome.

Headlands teacher, Joe Lucas has coordinated the challenge for the school and said: ‘This year with the pandemic affecting everyone, the theme was to encourage pupils to see their local area from a new perspective.  We’ve taken many active journeys around our locale by bike, scooter and by foot such as walks across the barrage and cycling to school days.

‘The students love it as they are outdoors being active and contributing to a more sustainable future.  This is something embedded in our curriculum and philosophy as well as also being reflected in our own bike and zero waste shops.  I’m very proud that we’ve done so well, it’s a great achievement to be top Welsh school and finish so high across the UK.’