Kerang Christian College

Year 6 leaders Emmer and Kevin welcomed students, teachers and guests to Kerang Christian College on Monday morning for a special Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School event. This was the first time Kerang Christian College has been involved in the VicHealth Walk to School program and the students are excited to be walking, riding and, in some cases, scooting to school throughout October with more than 500 other schools from across Victoria.

Cr. Oscar Aertssen from the Gannawarra Shire Council thanked Kerang Christian College for being involved and said how exciting it was to have all eleven Gannawarra primary schools supporting their students to be active and healthy not just throughout Walk to School month but all year round. Cr. Aertssen launched the ‘Gannawarra Golden Shoe’ trophy with the Year 3/4 class competing against the Year 5/6. Who will win? Clearly the students below think they will!

The new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip was viewed before Andrew, a local police officer, talked to students about pedestrian safety and some simple reminders – Stop, Look, Listen, Think! He also picked out some key messages from the Ride2School media clip – the importance of wearing a well fitted helmet, checking the ABC - Air, Brakes and Chains – before riding to make sure bikes and scooters are road safe, walking bikes and scooters across roads and school crossings, riding in single file and watching for cars backing out of driveways.

Getting to school actively, or being active while at school, after school or on the weekends helps keep bodies strong and healthy as they grow. Also important is the foods and drinks that we use to ‘fuel’ our bodies as they provide energy and help us to learn. Tanya, a Community Health Nurse from Northern District Community Health, came along and talked about the high sugar content in some foods and drinks. Did you know that a prima has 5 teaspoons of sugar, a yoghurt topped muesli bar almost 3 teaspoons, and Up and Go Liquid Breakfast that looks like a healthy option has almost 5 teaspoons? Riley measured out how much sugar is in a 600 ml bottle of Lift soft-drink – 66 grams – that’s more than 16 teaspoons! A 600ml Coke has 64 grams and even an iced-coffee has more than 46 grams followed closely by iced tea with 31 grams, even that’s nearly 8 teaspoons!

What does sugar do in our bodies? We need sugar to help ‘fuel’ or brains but while sugar might provide short-term energy, overall too much sugar makes us tired and lacking in energy. Our brains can become ‘foggy’ and our waistlines can get bigger. We can become overweight and even develop Diabetes. Eating a balanced diet using sugars found naturally in foods like fruit provides lots of vitamins, minerals and fibre that processed foods and drinks don’t.

Of course, sugar also sticks to our teeth and causes plaque to build up. If teeth aren’t cleaned properly we can get holes or cavities. We only get two sets of teeth in a lifetime so we need to look after them! Thomas did a great job demonstrating how to brush our teeth – a soft brush, a dob of fluoride toothpaste, 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 – about two minutes of gentle brushing twice a day is a great way to keep a healthy smile!

 

Eat Well, Drink Well, Brush Well!

Looking after our wellbeing is also an important part of living a healthy life and students learnt a little bit about the 5 Ways to Wellbeing – Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give. These are some simple things we can do every-day to improve our health and wellbeing. After being issued with a ‘walking passport’ the students collected the 5 Ways to Wellbeing stamps as they enjoyed a walk around the school oval. Sometimes it’s hard to walk or ride to school so each day the students have been walking twice around the school oval as part of the VicHealth Walk to School program.

 

Following our walk, we all enjoyed cups of cold milk or water and platters of colourful fruit and vegetables. A big thank you to IGA Kerang, IGA Cohuna, Border Packers Koondrook and Rocky's Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna for the fresh fruit and vegetables and to Murray Milk for the delicious cold 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.

 

There is also an article on the Kerang Christian College's website: http://www.kccs.vic.edu.au/gannawarra-vichealth-walk-to-school-program