Registration / Login
How do I register my school?
Simply fill in your school details on the Sustrans Big Pedal registration page.
What is a DfE / SEED / Inst Ref number? (You will need this to register)
England and Wales Schools have a seven-digit DfE number. It is made up of the school’s LA number (three digits) followed by its Establishment number (four digits). Look these up, or ask your school office.
Scotland Schools have a seven-digit SEED number. Look yours up, or ask your school office.
Northern Ireland Schools have a seven-digit Inst Ref No. Look yours up, or ask your school office.
I am a school travel coordinator / Sustrans school cycling officer. Can I register my schools for them?
You can offer to help your schools register, but we recommend you get a school staff member to sign their school or class up as they will need to record and enter their results on a daily basis.
Only one email address can be registered for those entering the whole school competition and this will be used when logging cycling or scooting journeys during the challenge.
How do I change/reset my password, or have it sent to me if I forget it?
When you login there is an option to reset your password.
I am having trouble logging in. What do I do?
Please make sure you are using the email address you registered your school with and the password you created at registration.
Sometimes there are problems with the internet connection so it is worth testing a few times. If you are still having trouble please email bigpedal@sustrans.org.uk for help.
Participation
Who can take part in the Sustrans Big Pedal 2019?
ALL schools in the UK can take part in the Sustrans Big Pedal (provided they have a DfE, SEED or Inst. Ref no. – what are these?) Pupils, parents and guardians, and staff at participating schools can all join in. If you have 35 or less children on your school roll, register for the class competition.
Other than cycling, what other journeys are included in the Sustrans Big Pedal?
Scooter journeys, walking journeys and journeys made by wheelchair count equally in the Big Pedal Challenge.
What are the categories?
The category you are entered into depends on whether you register as a class or a school, or within the one or five day challenge. You compete to win first, second, or third place within your category during the challenge. For 2018 categories are:
- Whole school - five-day challenge- Small primary (fewer than 250 pupils)
- Whole school - one-day challenge- Small primary (fewer than 250 pupils)
- Whole school - five-day challenge- Large primary (250 pupils or more)
- Whole school - one-day challenge- Large primary (250 pupils or more)
- Whole school - five-day challenge- Secondary school
- Whole school - one-day challenge- Secondary school
- Class - five-day challenge- Small primary (fewer than 250 pupils)
- Class - one-day challenge- Small primary (fewer than 250 pupils)
- Class - five-day challenge- Large primary (250 pupils or more)
- Class - one-day challenge- Large primary (250 pupils or more)
- Class - five-day challenge- Secondary school
- Class - one-day challenge- Secondary school
What if I enter as a class but later the whole school want to enter?
You are able to change your settings right up until the start date of the competition. If your whole school wish to take part, you are able to change your settings and enter as a school.
We are a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school. Can we take part?
Yes, SEN schools can compete too. If your pupils are able to cycle, walk, use a wheelchair or scoot to school then you may enter the Sustrans Big Pedal just like any other school and count your journeys.
However, if the majority of your pupils are unable to cycle, walk, wheel or scoot to school regularly you can take part in our one-day challenge. Schools entering the one-day challenge may use school pool bikes and static bikes and count journeys made at school – it is up to the discretion of school staff what constitutes one journey taking into account pupil ability.
What counts as a journey in the five-day challenge?
Schools/classes entered in the five-day challenge can record one journey per day for each child if they cycled, walked or scooted to school. At least half of their journey (by time) should have been made by bike or scooter for the journey to count.
What counts as a journey in the one-day challenge?
Participants in the one-day challenge can include cycling, walking and scooting activity during the school day. If a pupil undergoes at least 30 minutes continuous cycling, walking or scooting activity during the school day, this can count as one journey in the challenge. However, a pupil can only record one journey per day of the challenge. Therefore, if a pupil cycles/walks/scoots continuously for at least 30 minutes during the school day AND cycles/walks/scoots to school that day, this will only count as one journey.
What counts as a supporter journey?
A supporter journey is a journey made by school staff, or by parents/siblings/guardians who have accompanied the pupil on their journey to school. Supporters must have also made the journey by bike, foot or scooter.
Supporters’ journeys do not count toward a schools’/class’ score, but are used to identify a winning team in the case of a draw. Draws happen every year, so it’s well worth recording all your supporter journeys.
Is it possible to just take part on certain days of the race?
Yes. Sustrans Big Pedal challenge has a five-day or one-day option. Schools are able to record journeys on all 10 days of the competition for both options, however the best five days or one day is chosen for your final score, depending on the challenge option you choose. However, the more days you enter, the more potential there is to record higher participation rates and the more chances you have to win in our daily prize draw.
How can I see which schools in my area are taking part?
There is a list of schools that have registered on the website which you can search alphabetically, by school name or by Local Authority. Or you can view the map of schools taking part.
How do schools record their cycle and scooter journeys once the race starts?
Ensure you download class record sheets for all your classes from the resources page. Teachers log their class journeys on these sheets. Schools then log in to their school home page on the Sustrans Big Pedal website each day and enter the number of cycle, walking and scooter journeys made in each class. If entering as an individual class, simply enter your data straight on to your homepage.
N.B. To appear on the daily leaderboards and to be entered into the daily prize draw, schools and classes must register their journeys by 9am on the next school day. For your journeys to count towards the overall challenge results, all results must be entered on to the website by midday on Wednesday 10 April.
What happens if I do not register my school's journeys before the 9am deadline each day?
For your journey data to count towards each day's points ranking, your daily results must be entered by 9am the following school day.
If you miss the deadline, your points for that day will still be added to your overall score, however your school will not move up the daily rankings board. If you miss the deadline for some of your school's classes, journeys that have been entered will still count towards your daily total.
Schools have until midday on Wednesday 10 April to enter their data, should they find it difficult to log their journeys daily.
PLEASE NOTE: If all journeys are entered on 10 April, they will only count towards your overall race position and not your daily position. You will not be eligible for the daily prize draws if you enter your results on 10 April.
How does the daily prize draw work?
To be entered into the prize draw you must log your journeys on the Big Pedal website by 9am on the following school day. For example, to be entered into the prize draw on Day 1 (Monday 25 March) journeys must be logged by 9am on Day 2 (Tuesday 26March). A daily prize winner will be selected each day at random from all schools/classes who have recorded at least 15% of their pupils cycling, walking or scooting to school that day.
Resources
I have not yet received my resources?
Resources will be sent out to schools from March. In order to receive your resources on time, please make sure you register early. If you register after 4 March we cannot guarantee that they will arrive before the start of the event. The deadline to receive a free resource pack is Sunday 10 March.
You’ll still be able register afterward Sunday 10 March and find these resources online (including the digital wallchart found on the School Homepage), but you will not receive your paper-based version in the post.
Results
Is the competition fair for small / large schools?
Yes, the competition is fair for all sizes of school. Schools enter their whole school roll or individual class/ year group size at registration and their daily score is produced by working out the percentage of pupils that have cycled, walked or scooted into school in relation to their school, year group or class size.
PLEASE NOTE: The school or class roll number must be entered correctly, please check yours is correct before the competition starts by visiting your school settings.
How are the results worked out for each school each day?
The greater number of pupils making cycle. walk or scooter journeys each day, the better your result. Scores are based on a percentage of the total number of pupils in your class or school taking part, as opposed to a sum total of participants.
How can I check how my school is doing?
During the race, school rankings will be publicly available daily on the website. As schools are able to enter results daily or at the end of the Challenge, a more accurate picture of their progress can be obtained at the end of the Challenge.
What happens if there’s a tie?
In the event of a tie, schools with the highest percentage of supporter journeys will be awarded a higher position on the leaderboard. If there is still a tie, the final positions will be drawn at random.
How do I know if my school has won?
The results will be published at the end of the competition on the website and all prize-winning schools will be emailed by the organisers.
What happens if I win?
Big Pedal trophies or certificates are awarded to those in the top three positions of the national leaderboards.
Regardless of whether you won or not, every school and class are able to print their own Big Pedal certificate, downloadable from the resources page on the Big Pedal website.
More questions? Please contact the Sustrans Big Pedal team: bigpedal@sustrans.org.uk.