We are the only youth mountain bike organisation in the Greater Wellington region to be Adventure Activity Accredited to look after your young people. This is a legal requirement that ensures all adventure operators (mountain biking included) are held to a rigorous and consistent standard for your experience to be safe and memorable for all the right reasons. To retain this accreditation, WORD is safety audited annually, both internally ourselves and then assessed by external accreditors.

On every programme your child will do with WORD, they will be in the company of one of our ‘orange-tees’- the giveaway of a WORD instructor. Welcomed to the team for their brilliant and diverse attributes, every instructor is required to attend an annual training weekend, and hold a current first aid qualification. We also have lead instructors - ‘purple tees’ on the day - who often have more experience coaching, hold a current 2 or 5 day first aid qualification, and are comfortable leading the instructors for the programme of the day. All of our instructors are paid at least the living wage. More than 20 of our instructors hold their level 1 GSMBC coaching qualification - an internationally recognised standard. We are lucky enough to have Nic our CEO with a Level 2 Qual.

WORD puts measures in place during all our programmes so that kids are in groups that they can see themselves being a part of. We think it is special that we get to treat an otherwise individual sport as a team sport. Our crews are strictly 1:8 teaching ratios to keep your kids safe, and their learning personable. Within our ‘crews’, we do our best to ensure there is a balance of age, abilities, and ambitions, and align these with a suitable instructor. We have structured programmes and lessons for terms and our holiday programming.

WORD is currently in the process of supporting our seasoned instructors to sit their GSMBC level one certifications, and Nic is one of the few in NZ to hold a level two GSMBC cert- a globally recognised qualification within the mountain bike tuition world. We are proud to have helped 14 instructors gain this qualification as of Autumn ‘26, which helps to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring the highest quality tuition for your kids. We are aiming for 20 to have this qualification by September 26.In the same way we teach your kids It is about more than just bikes, our annual training evolves each year to include ‘off the bike’ up-skilling. In the past, we have hosted talks from Rainbow Youth, Mana Taiohi (SportNZ), and Menstruation in the Outdoors, and this year we are focusing on Nuerodiversity and Positive Youth Development from the Champions Project.

Working with youth is a privilege, and requires considerations and policies that may differ from an organisation only dealing with adults. WORD police vets every instructor, and has robust child protection and safety systems that inform every decision we make, maintain the high standards and keep your kids and our instructors safe. We are committed to continually reviewing our own policies, and ensuring we are adapting to changes around us.