Walking for Wellbeing at Kerang Christian College

After taking out the regional prize in 2015 for first year participants in the Walk to School program, Kerang Christian School once again put one foot in front of the other in an effort to improve their fitness, health and wellbeing by walking, riding or scooting to school throughout Walk to School month of October.

In 2015, 100% of students walked, rode, skated or scooted 1784 times during October - that’s about 1281 kilometres - equivalent to walking from Kerang to Canberra and back!

This year was slightly lower but still a fantastic effort with 98% of students walking, riding or scooting 1324 times - that’s about 950 kilometres - equivalent to walking from Kerang to further than Sydney!

There were some outstanding personal achievements with seventeen students achieving Gannawarra Star Walker status by walking at least 30 times out of the possible 38 times during Walk to school month. Star Walkers at Kerang Christian College were:

Prep/1: Indianna (30/38), Tom and Chloe (32/38), Xavier (34/38).
Grade 2: Zieanna (34/38), Lanie, Abey and Alina (36/38).
Grade 5/6: Jason (32/38), Amariah and Jack (33/38), Coen, Riley and Blair (35/38), Lachie, Georgie and Olivia (37/38)

Classes at Kerang Christian College competed against each other in an effort to win a Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy.

Last year the winning class was Year 5/6 with participation across the month of 98.5% closely followed by Year 3/4 with 95.2%.

This year the Year 5/6 have held the title achieving participation across the month of 74%. Other classes weren’t far behind with Year 2 achieving 73% participation, Prep/1 69% and Year 3 / 4 65%. Coen and Riley accepted the trophy on behalf of their class and the other students gave them a great big cheer!

 

The VicHealth 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 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

Read all about the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program: www.facebook.com/HealthyGannawarra and the Gannawarra Walk to School BLOG: www.gannawarrawalkstoschool.blogspot.com.au