Riding2School and Healthy and Active Living Celebrated at Kerang Primary School

Ride2School was celebrated at Kerang Primary School on Friday 4^th March 2016 with 34 school students riding or scooting to school on the day.

Over 2,000 other primary schools across Australia and 350,000 school students participated in Bicycle Network’s National Ride2School Day promoting the importance of children being Active and Healthy in their communities and fitting at least 60 minutes of physical activity into their daily lives.

Kerang Primary School students enjoyed their daily walk/run around the block followed by colourful fruit and vegetable platters. Some of the fresh produce on the platters had come from the student’s Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden.

Cr. Keith den Houting and Manager Community Health Narelle O’Donoghue judged the decorated bike and scooter competition with prizes awarded for each class for the most colourful bike or scooter, best themed bike or scooter and best bike or scooter decorated in Australian sporting team colours.

An amazing array of colourful entries made the judging very difficult and all students and their families were congratulated for their effort. Category winners were presented with toothbrush and toothpaste sets to help keep those big smiles happy and healthy!

More bike riding activities followed with students participating in an obstacle course and then a ride on their bikes and scooters around the block.

 

Later in the day Cr. Oscar Aertssen and Narelle O’Donoghue returned to present Kerang Primary School with their Get Active Statement. This statement reinforces the school’s commitment to supporting Active and Healthy Lifestyles and Gannawarra Shire Council and partner agencies ongoing commitment to support local primary schools to support every child to have a great start to life!

The Statement is a partnership project between Council, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital, Mallee District Aboriginal Service, VicPolice and the Southern Mallee Primary Care Partnership. All primary schools in the Gannawarra Shire have been asked to contribute to a Get Active Statement for their own school and are at varying stages of consideration.

Cr. Aertssen congratulated the school for adopting a Get Active Statement and said how important it was for Council and partnership agencies to support active and healthy primary schools. He said that schools are a safe place for students not only to learn but also to connect to the wider community and develop good citizenship qualities.

School principal, Brent Taylor, said that he had no hesitation in adopting the Get Active Statement as the school places a very high priority on student’s health and wellbeing and connecting with the wider community helps to support students to develop into good citizens.

VicPolice is a partner to the Get Active Statement and Tania and Carole from the Swan Hill Crime Prevention Unit came to speak to students about the importance of looking after their bikes and being safe on the roads.

There were lots of questions and some very good ideas for how to stay safe. Wearing bright clothing and being sensible on the roads and footpaths is a good start as is sticking to the left and using the bell and your voice to make people aware of your presence.  We learnt that children under 12 are able to use the footpath but that they must ride slowly and give way to pedestrians.  Remember those four key messages: Stop, Look, Listen and Think…

Wearing a correctly fitted helmet is also really important. Ensure that the helmet sits centred on the head about the space of two fingers above the top of the eyebrow and does not move off the forehead or from side to side. The straps should not twist or cover the ears and the chin strap should be adjusted so it sits firmly.

 

 

Bikes should be correctly sized so that when sitting on the bike we can comfortably hold the handlebars and place the balls of both feet firmly on the ground.

Tania and Carole then assisted students to engrave their bikes and to complete a Bicycle Passport to help keep their bikes and scooters safe.

 

Six primary schools across the Gannawarra Shire participated in National Ride2School Day encouraging students and their families to ride, walk, skate or scoot to and from school, or the school bus. Other schools participating are Murrabit Group School, Kerang South Primary School, Quambatook Group School, Cohuna Consolidated Primary School and St. Mary’s Primary School Cohuna.

Riding, walking, skating or scooting are great ways for children to learn independence, to help build confidence and improve their health and wellbeing. Children also love catching up with friends and getting to school actively together. Being active helps keep children alert, improves their concentration and helps them to learn.

Ride2School is a Bicycle Network initiative. For more information about the Ride2School program or National Ride2School Day visit https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/general/programs/179/

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