Project Description
Pedal Power: Driving Sign-Ups for a National Cycling Programme
The Bikeability Trust
Pedal Power: Driving Sign-Ups for a National Cycling Programme
The Bikeability Trust
Helping Bikeability reach more schools, more effectively
The Bikeability Trust, supported by the Department for Transport, runs a programme called Get Cycling in Schools. This free initiative aimed at primary schools across England, offers training and resources equipping school staff to teach basic cycling skills to EYFS and KS1 pupils. Despite the programme being high quality, fully funded and beneficial to schools, the Bikeability team found sign-ups were falling short of the target of 400 schools per term. The Bikeability team needed to find a way to reach more schools to raise awareness of the programme and to encourage more sign-ups.
The challenge
Primary schools are incredibly busy places with more and more being expected of teaching staff and senior leaders. They receive a variety of communications daily which makes it challenging to cut through the ‘noise’ and reach them with valuable programmes like Get Cycling in Schools. As a result, many were unaware of the programme and how it could benefit their pupils.
Even schools who were aware of the programme were potentially struggling to fit this additional training into their packed schedules – and weren’t necessarily aware that it was fully-funded and offered face-to-face training for school staff. From a senior leader’s perspective, those aware of the programme may have been unsure of how – or even whether – they should, prioritise cycle training in school.
The Bikeability Trust approached Ambleglow to help them raise awareness of the programme and increase expression of interests.
Hear the impact in their own words
Listen to Amy Norton, Get Cycling in Schools Manager at the Bikeability Trust.
The solution
We met with the Get Cycling in Schools team to discuss what they’d worked on so far, what had worked well and what didn’t seem to be performing to their expectations. We then reviewed their campaign landing page as well as the marketing collateral that was being used to encourage schools to sign up.
The team had made a strong start, but there was room to build on their efforts. We developed and delivered a focused plan that included:
- Sharpening campaign messages to better target key decision-makers (Headteachers and Deputies) and influencers (Classroom Teachers), addressing pain points and clearly highlighting benefits.
- Reviewing the channel mix, which had previously leaned heavily on email, to identify wider opportunities.
- Updating the campaign landing page to prioritise benefit-led messaging, supported by features and clear calls to action.
- Expanding promotion across Meta (Facebook) and LinkedIn to create multiple touch points and reinforce the message.
The future
We have continued working with the fantastic Get Cycling in Schools team and have recently completed our third burst of activity, with burst four due in September 2025. Building on campaign lessons, we have added Google Display Network ads and Teacher Tapp platform ads to the channel mix.
We continue to build on our learnings across each phase of the campaign, working with the supportive team at The Bikeability Trust, who are eager to test new channels and adjust our approach as we learn from the data – ensuring the most successful campaign outcomes.
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