St. Mary's Primary School

The 5 Ways to Wellbeing – Connect, Be Active, Keep Learning, Take Notice and Give flowed through an event at St. Mary’s this week as we celebrated the health and wellbeing benefits of living a healthy and active life.

The event was part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program with students encouraged to walk, ride, scoot or skate to school throughout October. Incorporating this extra physical activity into daily living is important; students develop a greater sense of independence, learn more about the environment around them, meet up with their friends, and arrive at school alert and ready to learn. Bus travellers have been supported to walk or run a set circuit at school during recess so that they too can mark their activity on the classroom walking calendars.

Cr. Lorraine Learmonth came along to the event and encouraged students to continue to actively travel to and from school, or the school bus, all year round. She said that all eleven primary schools across the Gannawarra Shire have joined more than 500 schools across Victoria to get out and about in their communities walking or riding to school throughout October. It’s a healthy habit that the Gannawarra Shire, schools and partner organisations are keen to support.

A launch and viewing of the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip followed. Promoting riding to school, pedestrian safety messages and how to check the ABC for bikes – Air, Brakes and Chain, the clip had been produced by the shire with students from Cohuna Consolidated, Kerang Primary and Kerang South Primary School as part of the Ride2School program earlier in the year.

Next we heard from Jess, a District Nurse with Cohuna District Hospital. Jess talked to the students about how an important part of her role as a nurse is to keep people healthy and well so that they don’t end up in hospital. Students demonstrated some activities that can be done every day to help build muscle and bone strength to prevent injuries. Stretching is an easy, free and fun way to start to build up muscle strength.

 

Fuelling our bodies with the right food is also important to living a healthy and active life. Tanya, a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health, opened our eyes to the amount of sugar in common food and drinks. Did you know that a 600ml bottle of Coke has 64 grams of sugar, a 600ml bottle of Lift has 66 grams of sugar and a 600ml bottle of Sunkist has 70.8 grams of sugar. With 4 grams equal to one teaspoon that’s almost 18 teaspoons of sugar! Even a small drink like a prima contains 5 teaspoons!

Students learnt what to look for on food labels and were encouraged to take a closer look over the coming days and weeks so that they are more informed. Our brains and bodies need a small amount of sugar but we should be getting that sugar from natural foods such as fruits rather than from processed foods. We also learnt about some of the tricky things food manufacturers do to make their product look like a healthy option such as using words like real fruit, yoghurt top, low fat, natural or healthy. Sometimes these foods contain more sugar than others that are similar – a yoghurt topped muesli bar for example has almost twice as much sugar as a plain muesli bar!

Tanya said how important it is to eat well, drink well and brush well so as part of her talk she showed students how to brush their teeth using a soft brush, a dob of fluoride toothpaste and small circular movements taking special care to clean the inside, outside and tops of teeth and those big molars at the back where food can get stuck. Brushing twice a day - morning and night - will help keep our pearly whites smiling! Healthy teeth help us to chew, speak, smile and be confident. We only get two sets of teeth in a life-time so it’s important to look after them. 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.

Andrew, a local policeman, came along to talk about staying safe when out an about walking and riding in the community or on farms and to remember to Stop, Look, Listen, Think! He picked out some important messages from the Ride2School media clip - wearing a well fitted helmet, checking a bike’s roadworthiness – the ABC – Air, Brakes and Chain, how to ride safety on the footpath and road taking care to look out for cars backing out of driveways. While it’s popular to wear headphones and listen to music while riding and walking this means we can’t Listen for cars, trucks, motorbikes and other danger. This means it's a really unsafe thing to do.

 

Looking after our wellbeing is also an important part of living a healthy life and the 5 Ways to Wellbeing are some simple things we can do every-day to improve our health and wellbeing. After being issued with a ‘walking passport’ students collected the 5 Ways to Wellbeing stamps as they enjoyed a walk around the school oval.

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

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

Lake Charm Primary School and Quambatook Group School

What better way to start the day than a healthy breakfast on the shore of beautiful Lake Charm!

The warm sunshine countered the fresh breeze off the lake as excited children disembarked off buses from Lake Charm Primary School and Quambatook Group School.

Following a healthy breakfast of cereals, toast, a glass of cold milk and fresh local oranges, Karyl from Kerang District Health led some fun activities on the lake foreshore to keep us all warm.

There was heaps of fun to be had participating in a range of team challenges and relays and it was great to have parents and grandparents come along to cheer as children from the two schools reacquainted.

Anticipating a nature walk across the sand-hills back to the Lake Charm Primary School, Scott, a Lake Charm student, gave a description of how the sand hills formed. They are lunettes formed when the lake was dry thousands if not millions of years ago. The prevailing east-west winds blew sand to the west to form the lunette of red sandy-clay soils. The contrast of the blue lake surrounded by green grass and the redness of the sand-hills is stark yet beautiful.

The air warmed as we left the lake for our nature walk back over the lunette to the school. Along the way there was clapping and tapping on the ground to make it clear to any snakes that might be lurking in the long grass that they stay still or slowly go the other way. Our trick worked!

We read heritage signs on animals that frequent the area such as the brolga, long necked tortoise, wedge-tailed eagle and the black wallaby. We also found out that Burke and Wills moved through Lake Charm on the 5^th September 1860 on their mission to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria. The group included 22 men, 3 Afghan camel drivers, 23 horses, 26 camels and 3 large covered wagons.

A crossing of the busy Murray Valley Highway was a very good reminder to Stop, Look, Listen and Think! And we made it back to school where a vegetable platter and dips and an icy cold drink of water quenched our thirst.

 

Cr. Neil Gannon went on to officially open the Community Garden beds where we saw tomatoes, broccoli, leeks and snow peas flourishing in the loamy red soils. Next was the official opening of the chook shed complete with happy hens and the very first egg!

Back in the classroom we viewed a series of media clips the children had produced on Exercise, Healthy Eating and the importance of being Sunsmart. A re-viewing of the media clip titled Be Active that Quambatook Group School students had been involved in as part of the 2013 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program made the children giggle to see how much they had grown over the past two years. Next came a viewing of the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip. A good reminder of important road safety messages.

The children were surprised when Karyl the Carott and Tanya the Strawberry turned up for a talk about healthy eating. Tanya the Strawberry is a community health nurse from Northern District Community Health. She talked about the importance of eating a range of foods from the five essential food groups everyday – Meat, Dairy, Fruit, Vegetables and Grains.

We looked at food labels and paid particular attention to the sugar content in common snack foods and drinks. Even small packages commonly found in children’s lunchboxes like primas, muesli bars, fruit roll-ups and yoghurts can contain very high amounts of sugar that growing bodies just don’t need.

We measured out the amount of sugar in a 600ml bottle of Lift soft-drink – 66 grams – that’s over 16 teaspoons! Even a small prima has 5 teaspoons of sugar! Children were encouraged to have a closer look at food labels over the coming weeks and to show parents what to look for when choosing foods in supermarkets. Water doesn’t contain any sugar and is a great drink to help us stay hydrated and really is the only drink our bodies need to stay well, and the occasional glass of milk.

A tooth-brushing demonstration created lots of conversation about how to look after our teeth. Small circular brushes with a soft tooth brush and a small amount of fluoride toothpaste is all that’s needed along with about two minutes morning and night. It's important to clean each tooth  on the inside, outside and top paying particular attention to the big teeth at the back where it’s easy to miss.

Students from Lake Charm are focusing on 'Healthy October' and had created a Healthy October brochure. Five students took turns to read out sections  on Hydration, Exercise, Healthy Eating, Dangers and SunSmart.  

A healthy picnic lunch was enjoyed by all before finishing off the morning of activity with Teagan from Lake Charm and Braedon from Quambatook thanking parents, grandparents and guests for coming along. The grand finale was “Do the Hokey Pokey” in the school playground.

Bringing two of the smallest Gannawarra Shire schools together was a great way for the children to make new friends and to learn more about another community. We loved playing on the banks of Lake Charm, walking across the red sandhills and enjoyed lots of activities back at the Lake Charm Primary School.

And so after a fun filled morning learning all about the importance of living healthy and happy lives it was time to say goodbye to our friends from Quambatook.

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.