A RECORD number of school pupils in Cumbria will be getting on their bikes and scooters for a national travel-to-school challenge during March.

Around 40 schools – the highest number ever - have signed up for this year’s Big Pedal event, which encourages children, parents and staff to choose two wheels for their journey to school.

Last year nearly 30 Cumbrian schools clocked up over 14,000 cycling and scooting journeys during the Big Pedal fortnight. Beetham was named the top performing small primary school in England in 2014.

Beetham head teacher Wendy Nicholas said: “We’d never done anything like it before and it had a really positive effect on everyone. The children were more awake and ready to learn in the morning and we think it also affected attention span.”

Cllr Keith Little, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “More and more schools are taking part in the Big Pedal, which is a fantastic way to encourage families to think about ways of getting school without using the car."

The Big Pedal competition - the largest inter-school cycling and scooting challenge organised by the charity Sustrans - was launched at Beetham School on Monday.