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My first instinct would be to reply in terms similar to Arkell vs. Pressdram
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Did you receive a copy of this letter? If you didn't, and it appears the headteacher is conducting a smear campaign against you and your daughter using public funds, then I would imagine the local paper would be very interested. The letter tries, rather clumsily, to link riding 'with little regard to road safety' and not wearing a helmet. The link between the two is sufficiently tenuous that even the densest journo should be able to see that the comparison is intellectually dishonest.
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I think this is a useful, if somewhat wordy, briefing to use in dialogue with the school, if not done already: http://www.ctc.org.uk/sites/default/files/file_public/helmets-policy4srv.pdf
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What do you think about that?
You could point out the the very latest Cycling Policy Paper from ROSPA (January 2015) does not support compulsory helmet wearing. On p.23 it says
RoSPA does not support calls for compulsory cycle helmet laws because it is not clear whether such a law would discourage some people from cycling, thereby losing the health and environmental benefits from cycling.
If RoSPA has doubts about the efficacy of forcing everyone to wear helmets what is the basis for this school trying to force children to wear helmets. Using frightening statistics without putting them into perspective and judging the effectiveness of what they propose does not encourage confidence in the management of this school.
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@lazybeard
Update on this story about my kids' school trying to make helmets compulsory for all cycling pupils.
I wrote the the head, citing helpful info from here and the CTC. I got no reply, but the compulsory aspect was quietly dropped, and we heard no more of it for a while. However, this evening a friend showed me this letter which was delivered today:
Dear Parent/Guardian
Re; Road safety and cycling helmets
During this academic year, concerns have been raised by local residents, other road users and members of staff regarding the safety of some Finham Park students cycling to and from school. These students have been seen riding their bikes with little regard to road safety and with many not wearing a helmet. We have conducted assemblies to all students to highlight the dangers and how they can stay safe on the roads.
Below are some statistics from the ROSPA website;
Cyclist casualties, 2013
Child Adult All
Killed 6 193 109
Seriously injured 276 2867 3143
Injured 1676 14510 18616
Total 1958 17480 19438
The reason you have received this letter is because during a recent check, xxxx came to school on her bike without wearing a helmet. We are very concerned about the safety of all our students and ask that you can support us by encouraging xxxx to wear a helmet whilst cycling to and from school.
Yours faithfully
What do you think about that?