Cohuna Consolidated Primary School

Some students walked; some rode and some even scooted! It didn’t matter how they got to school but it was great to see that almost 100% of students at Cohuna Consolidated Primary School travelled to school, or the school bus, actively as part a special event to promote Walking to School.

Walking, riding, scooting or skating to school are great ways for children to establish life-long healthy habits. It's also important for developing a sense of independence and learning more about the world around them. Arriving at school alert and ready to learn is a bonus!

Cr. Lorraine Learmonth congratulated all students for putting in a huge effort throughout October’s Walk to School month. Cohuna Consolidated Primary School is one of 11 primary schools participating in the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program along with more than 500 other primary schools across Victoria. Cr. Learmonth said how proud she was to see so many students actively travelling to school and encouraged students to continue this healthy habit year round.

 

 

A launch and viewing of the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip was much anticipated with a number of students from Cohuna Consolidated involved in the production. A special award was presented to Zephyn who had a lead role in the media clip. Zephyn’s dad has been teaching him to ride his bike – how to check the ABC for bikes – Air, Brakes and Chain, keeping to the left and riding in single file.

 

The theme for this year’s Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program is active and healthy living. Jess, a District Nurse with Cohuna District Hospital, came along to talk about the importance of fitting lots of physical activity into daily routines to keep young bodies fit and healthy. Students helped demonstrate activities that build muscle strength such as bicep curls, lifts and stretches.

 

 

Tanya, a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health, led an interactive sugar display. This followed on from oral health screening undertaken by volunteer dentists from the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service earlier this year at Cohuna Consolidated Primary School as part of the Rural Engaging Communities in Oral Health project. The dentists raised concern at the amount of tooth decay they saw in children at primary schools and pre-schools across the Gannawarra Shire. As a result the Dental Health School at Latrobe University in Bendigo provided the sugar display as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program to help children better understand the importance of good oral health.

 

A tooth-brushing demonstration helped children gain greater knowledge of how to look after their teeth – slow and gentle circular movements to help clean all the teeth, paying special attention to those big back teeth where food can easily get stuck. Brushing twice a day with a soft toothbrush and pea sized amount of fluoride toothpaste is all that’s needed, along with about two minutes morning and night. Cohuna’s water supply isn’t fluoridated so to get the added benefit of strengthening the teeth with fluoride it’s recommended not to rinse with water after brushing.

 

We found out too that there is lots of sugar in some drinks like soft drinks, sports drinks, iced coffee, iced tea and juice that young children just don’t need. It’s much better to fuel our bodies with crunchy fruit and vegetables that help keep our mind and body healthy and our teeth strong and cavity free. Students were encouraged to take a look at food labels where the sugar content is listed in grams - remembering that 4 grams is equal to one teaspoon. Did you know that a 600ml bottle of Lift soft-drink has 66 grams of sugar - that’s more than 16 teaspoons! Even a small prima has 5 teaspoons of sugar.

 

 

Following some important Stop, Look, Listen, Think! messages from policeman Andrew we went on a walk to Gilrule Park on the banks of the Gunbower Creek. What a lucky community Cohuna is to have this beautiful creek and the surrounding environment right in the middle of town! We saw a family of ducks, a kookaburra and read about local fish and Major Mitchell's expedition through the area in 1836. We had to cross the busy Murray Valley Highway to get to Gilrule Park so this was an important way to put into action those Stop, Look, Listen, Think! messages.

 

 

Back at school we enjoyed a healthy fruit snack of watermelon, apples and bananas donated by Rocky’s Fruit and Vegetables in Cohuna and juicy local oranges provided by Border Packers in Koondrook. We also had delicious cold glasses of milk provided by Murray Milk.

 

 

The Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program is rolled out across the Gannawarra Shire as a Gannawarra Local Agency Meeting (GLAM) partnership project. This is a partnership between Gannawarra Shire Council, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital, Mallee District Aboriginal Service, Victoria Police, with support from the Southern Mallee Primary Care Partnership.
 

Walk to School is a VicHealth initiative. For more information go to: www.walktoschool.vic.gov.au.