The 2015 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program has come to an
end and Gannawarra Shire Council at its meeting held on Wednesday 18 October
passed a motion of thanks to the following partners:
VicHealth, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health,
Cohuna District Hospital, Victoria Police, Gannawarra Library Service, Rocky’s
Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna, Border Packers Koondrook, IGA Cohuna, IGA Kerang,
Woolworths Kerang, Gray’s Bakery, Murray Milk, Kerang South Primary School,
Kerang Primary School, St. Joseph’s Primary School Kerang, Kerang Christian
College, Cohuna Consolidated Primary School, St. Mary’s Primary School Cohuna,
Leitchville Primary School, Koondrook Primary School, Lake Charm Primary
School, Murrabit Group School, Quambatook Group School, and the Dental Health
School at LaTrobe University Bendigo.
Some Key
Points
For the
first time all eleven Gannawarra primary schools participated in the 2015
Gannawarra Walk to School program. That’s 763 students. 95% of these students
(726) participated by walking, riding, skating or scooting to school, or the
school bus, throughout October.
Walks for the month totalled 16,237 and based on the average
walking distance this equates to 11,658 kilometres
– that’s almost a circuit
around Australia!
Ten events were coordinated throughout October, with Lake Charm
and Quambatook combining for a joint activity.
A Facebook page was established at the commencement of the program
with 121 followers at the end of the month.
A Gannawarra Walk to School BLOG assisted in recording stories
from events and sharing these stories across other Gannawarra schools and the
wider community.
Gannawarra posts were shared across the state via the VicHealth
Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
4 schools participated in the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy aimed
at motivating children to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school throughout the
month and to fill in the VicHealth Walk to School calendars.
Through the activities at individual schools and via Facebook,
Twitter and the BLOG, promotion of Gannawarra Shire as a great place to live
and visit were provided. This year community walks took place at Leitchville,
Lake Charm, Murrabit and Cohuna to showcase the towns and to increase the sense
of community for students.
The majority of the food for healthy fruit and vegetable platters,
breakfasts, lunches and milk were donated by local businesses namely: Rockys
Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna, Border Packers Koondrook, IGA Cohuna and IGA
Kerang, Gray’s Bakery, Woolworths Kerang and Murray Milk. In fact Council’s
food bill for the month to feed 763 hungry students totaled the very small
amount of $145.20!
Involvement in the VicHealth Walk to
School 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.
Primary schools are a key setting for promoting healthy liveable
communities were children can grow and develop in a supportive and safe
environment but also where they develop a sense of place and pride in their
community that may entice them to one day raise their own families in
Gannawarra.
The program provides a fabulous opportunity for Council to take a
leadership role in coordinating a large scale community health
program focused on promoting healthy lifestyles, and the opportunity to
have conversations with schools on other important issues that impact on the
educational and community outcomes for children.
Great feedback has been received from
schools and media coverage has provided positive promotion for all parties
involved.
An evaluation of the 2015 program
will occur in partnership with health agencies and participating schools. This
will ensure that the outcomes are captured as well as key learnings and
opportunities to build on the partnership approach in the future.
Thanks again to all who supported the
2015 program.
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.
