Five senior classes from Mount Maunganui Primary School have taken to the streets to demonstrate their Bikewise abilities.

To celebrate the end of Bikewise month, 170 students, teachers and parents donned helmets and rode down to Pilot Bay for a lunchtime swim, under the watchful eye of Tauranga's award-winning Kids Can Ride instructors.

The senior classes from Mount Primary celebrate reaching Pilot Bay on their Bikewise outing. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.

The senior classes from Mount Primary celebrate reaching Pilot Bay on their Bikewise outing. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism

And they had a ball, putting into action valuable road-safety skills they'd been taught, as well as having an important community spin-off.

'Mount Maunganui adults aren't the greatest cycling role-models – we're always seeing them ride around town without helmets and with inappropriate footwear,” Kids Can Ride founder Iris Thomas said.

Kids Can Ride instructor Naomi Davoren leads some eager Mount Primary students along Adams Avenue. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.

'This was a great chance for the kids to become community role-models, which they handled superbly.

'We had overwhelmingly positive reports from the community on how well they shared the road with traffic, how visible they were and how sensible their behaviour was along the route.”

Kids Can Ride instructors spent two weeks at Mount Primary earlier in February, imparting valuable cycling skills and stressing the importance of having a respectful road attitude.

The Kids Can Ride program – jointly funded by Tauranga City Council and New Zealand Transport Agency – visit nearly all primary schools in the wider Tauranga region, teaching cycle safety to nearly 3000 Year 5 and 6 students every year.

Former downhill mountain biking world champion Vanessa Quin, now a Kids Can Ride instructor, leads the Mount Primary contingent on their outing. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.