St Josephs Primary School is ready to step it up in October!

St Joseph's Primary School students are revving themselves up over the holidays ready for the start of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program on 3^rd October.

Mayor Brian Gibson launched the 2017 Gannawarra Golden Shoe Trophy on Tuesday to a very excited crowd of students and teachers. 

The winning class of the 2016 Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy at St. Joseph's Primary School  was Miss Rich’s GRADE 2/3 class with 68% participation - which class will win this year's trophy???

Last year it was a very close finish, with Grade 1 achieving 65% participation, Miss Arceria’s Grade 2/3 class 60%, Grade 4/5 and Grade 5/6 58% and the Prep class 51% and the competition is very strong again this year with all classes vying for the prize!

This will be St Joseph's fifth year participating in the Walk to School program. Last year 98% of St. Joseph’s students walked 2404 times to and from school during October. This equates to about 1726 kilometres and is equivalent to walking from Kerang to the Gold Coast!

All ten 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 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, and Mallee Family Care with support from the Southern Mallee Primary Care Partnership.

Walk to School is a VicHealth initiative. For more information go to: http://www.walktoschool.vic.gov.au/

Follow along with the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program: https://www.facebook.com/HealthyGannawarra

and our Gannawarra Walk to School BLOG: http://gannawarrawalkstoschool.blogspot.com.au/