Quambatook Primary School

A special Walk to School and Healthy Breakfast event was held at Quambatook Primary School on Friday.

All nine students attending Quambatook Primary School walk to school each day and today they were able to tuck into a healthy breakfast when they arrived. It was great to have a number of parents come along and enjoy the experience with their children.

 

Cr. Mark Arians represented the Gannawarra Shire Council and said that it was great to see so many primary schools and kindergartens across the shire get involved in the Gannawarra Walk to School and Healthy Breakfast program. He said that the program was part of Council’s commitment to encouraging healthy lifestyles and to build on partnerships to support the health and wellbeing of our communities.

Yvonne a Northern District community health nurse based at Quambatook encouraged the children to make physical activity and healthy eating part of their daily routines so that they grow up strong and remain healthy throughout their adult lives. She spoke about different types of physical activity the children enjoy at Quambatook such as walking to and from school, being active at recess and lunchtime, playing sports, and swimming at the local pool during the hotter months of the year. The children also participate in 15 minutes of activity before going into class each day and at present they are practicing their skipping routines for the end of year concert.

Council’s Health and Wellbeing Planner, Narelle O’Donoghue, thanked the Quambatook Primary School for participating in the program and acknowledged the school children’s involvement in the new Gannawarra Walk to School media clip. She told the children that they had become “Walk to School Ambassadors” by encouraging other children across the shire to be active.

Brandon, Sarah and Kyle were the winners of the Walk to School poster competition and they were each presented with a $10 gift voucher to use at local businesses. Each child received a “It’s cool to walk to school” sticker

The school principal thanked everyone involved in the Gannawarra Walk to School and Healthy Breakfast program and said how much the school had loved being involved. The children are proudly recording their walks to and from school each day on the classroom calendar and knowing that their walk to school kilometres will add to the tally across the whole of Victoria.

 

 
As a special surprise the students announced that they had been researching places of interest within their town and would like to take the visitors on a town tour. The one hour walk that followed was full of interesting facts and snippets about the history of Quambatook and included the former Bush Nursing Hospital, that Quambatook once had three hotels, a butcher, baker, general store and a host of other businesses including the Boomerang Café where John Williamson used to play at before he became famous. The children escorted the group down the staircase into the cellar below the general store which maintains its original century old features.

The town tour ended with a walk along the walking tracks following the picturesque Avoca River back to the school. Along the way the group looked at how high the water got during the January 2011 floods and heard how the community pulled together to save the town. We looked in the water and saw beetles and yabbies and picked up leaves, feathers and other ‘treasures’ along the way.

 

The walk was a great way to explore and learn about the environment and for the children to share their knowledge and gain a greater appreciation of what their community has to offer.

This week Walk to School and Healthy Breakfast events will be held at the Kerang Pre-School on Tuesday 19^th November, the Gannawarra Children’s Centre on Wednesday 20^th November and Lake Charm Primary School on Friday 22^nd November.