A Snap Shot of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School Program

VicHealth Walk to School month has created lots of excitement across the Gannawarra Shire for the past two years and thanks to a $10,000 VicHealth grant, the 2015 program will again be full of colour and activity.

Follow this Blog to stay up to date with what’s going on across the Gannawarra Shire throughout October as we encourage everyone to pull on their walking shoes and get walking!

Here’s a snap shot of what’s planned:

The theme that will run through the 2015 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program is Healthy and Active Living.

The Healthy and Active Living theme will be supported by the official launch of a new Ride2School media clip developed by Council in partnership with Kerang Primary School, Kerang South Primary School and Cohuna Consolidated School. This was funded through a $5,000 Bicycle Network Victoria grant resulting from Council’s coordination of the 2015 Ride2School program in March. This was one of only two grants awarded across Victoria.

Increasing rates of physical activity is critical to learning outcomes for children and in establishing healthy habits from an early age. Encouraging children and their families to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school more often is the key outcome of the VicHealth Walk to School program. This year Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital and the Gannawarra Library Service are supporting physical activity messages as part of the Walk to School program. The hospitals will deliver interactive strength training sessions and the library will focus on active learning and laughter yoga.

A Sugar display provided by LaTrobe University’s Dental Health School in Bendigo will also support the Healthy and Active Living theme. This is part of Gannawarra’s involvement in the Rural Engaging Communities in Oral Health Research Project. Sugar in food and drinks is a major issue when it comes to oral health outcomes in children as well as overweight and obesity and chronic disease such as diabetes and heart disease. Northern District Community Health will support the delivery of key healthy eating and oral health messages at local Walk to School events.

 

 

Supporting good mental health and wellbeing throughout childhood is also critical to maintaining healthy liveable communities. The 5 Ways to Wellbeing (connect, be active, keep learning, take notice, give) will be incorporated into events again this year with a new 5 Ways to Wellbeing banner, stamps and walking passports developed to support this.   

Victoria Police will again support the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program by incorporating Stop, Look, Listen, Think messages into events at schools that are new to the program.

 

 

For the first time all 11 Gannawarra primary schools are involved in the Walk to School program.  Each of the schools will host a Walk to School event which will include a walk and a healthy breakfast, morning or afternoon tea.

All students will receive a locally developed Walk to School bookmark at the start of October as a reminder to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school throughout October and to fill in their activity details on the VicHealth Walk to School calendars. Each student will also receive a locally developed Walk to School ruler at the school events. The ruler is designed to be a constant reminder to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school.

The program supports Council’s Healthy Liveable Communities priority area and the new Gannawarra Municipal Early Years Plan which has the vision to support every child to have a great start to life.

Parents are encouraged to support their children to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school, or the school bus. You might like to walk with your child or arrange for them to walk with neighbours, friends or siblings. And if you live too far away from school or the school bus, why not drive part of the way and walk the rest?

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 walktoschool.vic.gov.au.