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.