The official launch of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program took place at the Leitchville Primary School and Leitchville Preschool this morning.

Councillor Sonia Wright officially opened the 2017 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program and presented Leitchville Primary School and Leitchville Preschool with a Get Active Statement. This statement reinforces the commitment to supporting Active and Healthy Lifestyles and supporting every child to have a great start to life. 

 

Narelle from Gannawarra Shire Council spoke about the importance of children being active and fitting at least 60 minutes of physical activity into each day. When children are physically active they are healthier, happier and more connected to family and friends. They also learn better at school because activity is great for waking us up and improving our concentration.

To mark the occasion, students decorated their shoes and hats and walked around Leitchville. The students showed off their decorated shoes and hats to the local business owners before walking back along the 'Drop, Park, Walk' route back to school. 

Students were able to see the brand new stencilling that had just been installed on the footpath with the messages 'Stop, Look, Listen, Think' at the intersections that they had to cross. The students were also able to spot the temporary 'Drop, Park, Walk' and feet paste ups that were installed to show the way to school. These will be replaced with stencils before Term 4 starts. 

Last year 100% of of Leitchville students walked, rode or scooted 777 times during October - that’s about 558 kilometres - equivalent to walking from Leitchville to Ballarat and back! What a fantastic effort! This year the students are aiming to get all the way to Melbourne and back. We can't wait to return in November to see how far they walked!

The Walk to School celebrations also included a fun, and active, Laughter Yoga session with Glenda from the Gannawarra Library Service. The students loved pretending to be gliders, starting and pushing their very funny lawn mowers and making silly sounds when they breathed in and out. The teachers and visitors enjoyed the Laughter Yoga just as much as the students did! 

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 is an initiative of VicHealth with more than 700 schools across Victoria registered to take part – that’s more than 100,000 primary school students!

This is the fifth consecutive year that Gannawarra Shire has coordinated a local Walk to School program and 2017 is shaping up to be the most successful yet!

Last year all local schools across the Gannawarra Shire participated with 96.3% of students (758 students) walking, riding or scooting throughout October. Walks for the month totalled 16,549 and based on the average walking distance this adds up to 11,882 kms!

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/