We are delighted to announce that our Cytech workshops are reopening in June.

Activate Cycle Academy takes its responsibility as a training provider very seriously. With the reopening of our workshops, we have put in place stringent new protocol measures to help keep all our staff, learners and local community safe from the spread of COVID-19.

We ask that all learners attending our courses to familiarise themselves with and adhere to these new safety measures;

  1. Maximum course numbers have been reduced so that each learner will have their own individual workstation with their own set of equipment, bikes and tools to work with.
  2. Around each workstation there is 2m floor markings to help maintain social distancing – please respect other learners workspace at all times.
  3. Each workstation will have individual supplies of hand sanitisers and isopropyl alcohol spray bottles for workbench and tool cleaning etc. Please use them regularly.
  4. Gloves will be supplied and expected to be worn for the majority of the time within the workshop.
  5. The wearing of facemasks is optional – please bring your own masks if you want to wear them in the workshop.
  6. Cleaning – at the end of each training day, you’ll be expected to clean and wipe down your own workstation and tools.
  7. All communal areas such as kitchen and toilets will be cleaned thoroughly each evening by our staff.
  8. Apart from tea/coffee making facilities there will be no catering facilities onsite and the usual local shops may have limited supplies, so it’s advisable to bring along enough food and drink for each day. (You may also prefer to bring your own cup/kitchen utensils as well).
  9. All learners must now be 18+ years of age.
  10. Please DO NOT attend a course if you have experienced any coronavirus symptoms within 14 days prior to the start of the course. You will be offered an alternative course if you need to cancel at short notice.
  11. We request that all learners notify us if you develop any coronavirus symptoms within 14 days of completing your training course – help ‘track and trace’ any potential spread of COVID-19.

NB. Our workshops are large, open-plan areas with plenty of space for learners to move around safely.

In addition to the above new safety guidelines, we will regularly monitor the official advice from the UK Government, Public Health England, NHS and our parent company, Activate Learning and act accordingly to any changes to their current restrictions.

This guidance applies to learners attending our courses who are based in England only – learners from outside of England should check and follow the specific rules and current travel restrictions for their country of residence before booking on to a course.

If you are going to need accommodation whilst attending a course, please bear in mind that there are limited hotels open at the moment. Here is a very useful website for sourcing hotels – https://opendoors.construction. There is at least one Best Western hotel open near to both Oxford and Stafford training centres and also a Travelodge near Oxford open, but please check that you’ve got somewhere to stay BEFORE booking a course.

Cycling has already started to play a more significant part in our lives during the lockdown period. There has been a massive increase in the number of people using their bikes during the pandemic, either to commute to work or as a means to keep fit and healthy as part of their daily exercise routine. This increase in cycling activity will only continue grow over the coming months following the government’s recent announcement of a £2 billion investment package to create a new era for cycling (and walking) in the UK.

During these unprecedented times, it is crucial that we can support the cycle industry and its associated essential cycle businesses at this time. There is clearly going to be a massive shortage of well trained and qualified cycle technicians across all sectors of the trade for the foreseeable future. Our industry-leading range of Cytech professional courses will hopefully, play a large part in helping to meet this growing demand.

We would like to thank the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) for their support and guidance with these new protocol measures that has allowed us to safely reopen our training centres.

We look forward to welcoming you back in our workshop.