Out and About with Quambatook Group School

Great excitement at Quambatook Group School this week as the seven students pulled on their walking shoes for a walk around their community as part of the VicHealth Gannawarra Walk to School program.
 

We learnt that even in small communities we need to always practice “Stop, Look, Listen, Think!”, to watch out for our friends and make sure we are visible and able to be seen by the traffic. We got a few waves and some ‘beeps’ from passing cars and trucks so it was good to know that everyone could see us in our safety vests!

Walking is a fantastic way to check out what’s going on in the environment as there are some great learning experiences in our own communities. We stopped off at the Bev Nalder Memorial Park and tried out the local sun dial.

We called in to say ‘Hi’ to the ladies at the Quambatook Stores before heading down to the Avoca River to see that the recent floodwaters had receded.

Back at school we all enjoyed a cool drink of water and healthy fruit and vegetable snack. We even took a vote on our favourite fruit or vegetable. Brodie and Jake voted for blueberries, Danica, Braedon, Paige and Mrs G. all voted for watermelon, Brandon for grapes and Braeden for green apple.

The children also talked about what new fruit and vegetables they had tried from the platter. Danica tried snowpeas, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and celery for the first time, Braedon capsicum, snowpeas and tomato, and Brandon tried a snowpea. It’s always great to try new things. We may decide we don’t like them the first time but our tastebuds change as we grow up. It’s always good to keep trying new foods as one day something we didn’t like as a child, might just start to taste great!

All eleven primary schools across the Gannawarra Shire are participating in this year’s Walk to School program with students encouraged to ride, walk or scoot to and from school, the school bus or while at school, throughout October.

The Walk to School program promotes the importance of children being Active and Healthy in their communities and fitting at least 60 minutes of physical activity into their daily lives. Getting actively to school, the school bus, or while at school not only helps keep children fit and healthy, it also helps them to stay alert, to concentrate and improves learning outcomes.

The Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to Scool 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

Follow along with the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program: www.facebook.com/HealthyGannawarra and the Gannawarra Walk to School BLOG: www.gannawarrawalkstoschool.blogspot.com.au