St Joseph's Primary School

Despite waking up to an early morning shower of rain, the weather cleared and lots of children from St. Joseph’s Primary School in Kerang were still able to walk or ride to school this morning as part of their commitment to the VicHealth Walk to School program occurring across Victoria throughout November. Around 50 schools have registered on the Walk to School website, and their students have already walked a combined total of over 7500 kms, with many more schools like St. Joseph’s recording their students’ walks on printed classroom calendars.

Monday morning assembly set the scene for the day, not only relating to Walk to School but planned community activities to commemorate Remembrance Day. Cr. Keith den Houting represented the Gannawarra Shire Council at the assembly and launched the new Gannawarra Walk to School media clip. He said that walking is a fun activity to enjoy at any age and that he regularly jogs to keep fit and healthy. Cr. den Houting told the children how fortunate they are to have such a great school to go to and that friendships made at school can last a lifetime.

Angela a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health highlighted that being active is really important whether you’re very young or very old. Being active increases strength and fitness but it also keeps your weight under control; helping to prevent diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Making healthy food choices like cereals, grains, proteins and fruit and vegetables helps to keep the body in tip top condition so that you have energy to be active and participate in life. As the children named some healthy foods, Angela highlighted that eating a whole orange is a healthier option than drinking orange juice, and instead of sugary drinks, water or milk are good choices.

Following assembly, the whole school plus visitors walked around the block before enjoying a healthy ‘breakfast style’ morning tea in the outdoor undercover area. Kerang Technical High School year 9 students were kept busy keeping toast up to the 100 hungry school children, along with a range of donated cereals, yoghurt, milk, orange juice and apples.

The next Gannawarra Walk to School/Healthy Breakfast event will be held at the Murrabit Group School on Tuesday 12^th November. Weather permitting the day will start at 8:35am with a walk from the Murray River along the new walking track back to school picking younger children (including Murrabit Playgroup children and families) up along the way. The 2.5km or so walk will be followed by a healthy breakfast.

Stay tuned for further details throughout the week…