Koondrook Primary School Officially Launches 2018 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School Program

The official launch of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program took place at the Koondrook Primary School and Koondrook Preschool last week.

The day started with some fun skipping before children gathered in the outdoor undercover area for a special assembly where Shire Councillor Steven Tasker officially opened the 2018 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program. Year 6 students; Emma, Emily, Ayala, Bella and Pyper helped to cut the ribbon and will act as Walk to School Champions throughout the month long program that runs from Monday October 8 to Friday November 2. They will encourage other students to walk, ride or scoot to school, or the school bus as often as they can during Walk to School month.

 

Narelle from Gannawarra Shire Council and Emily from Northern District Community Health 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.

Last year 95% of Koondrook students walked, rode or scooted 931 times during the Walk to School program - that’s about 668 kilometres - equivalent to walking from Koondrook to Canberra! What a fantastic effort!

The Walk to School launch also included a fun, and active, Laughter Yoga session with Pia from the Gannawarra Library Service. The students loved pretending to eat a pineapple, starting and pushing their very funny lawn mowers across the school oval and chanting Ho, Ho, Ha, Ha, Ha! The teachers and visitors enjoyed the Laughter Yoga just as much as the students did! We then enjoyed watching Tahni from Gannawarra Shire do a fun Walk to School paste up on the concrete.

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, or the school bus. They will also be encouraged to be as active as they can while at school.

The Walk to School Program is an initiative of VicHealth with more than 760 schools across Victoria registered to take part – that’s more than 140,000 primary school students!

 

We finished off the official launch of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program by enjoying a healthy fruit and vegetable snack..watermelon, rockmelon, orange and crunchy carrot and celery provided the children with a colourful and healthy start to the school day.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Gannawarra Shire has coordinated a local Walk to School program and 2018 is shaping up to be the most successful yet!

Last year all local schools across the Gannawarra Shire participated with 95.0% of students (732 students) walking, riding or scooting throughout October. Walks for the month totalled 17,202 and based on the average walking distance that added up to 12,351 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, Mallee Family Care, 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

Tune into radio station 98.7 MixxFM for Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School messages throughout October.

 

 

2018 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School Program

Gannawarra Shire Council will encourage children and their families to make a healthy choice next month and scoot, cycle or walk to school, or the school bus, as part of the VicHealth Gannawarra Walk to School program.

This will be the sixth year that Council has successfully applied for a $10,000 Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) grant to run the program that supports the promotion of physical activity as well as improving safe active travel routes to and from school for primary school aged children.

 

All ten local primary schools are registered to participate.

 

Gannawarra Shire Council Mayor Cr. Brian Gibson has been an advocate for the VicHealth Walk to School program since its commencement across Gannawarra Shire communities in 2013.

 

“I am really proud of how strongly this month-long program is supported by all our local primary schools,” said Mayor Gibson. “The school students really get involved in the competition to see who can walk, ride or scoot the most throughout the month.”

 

The VicHealth Walk to School program commences on Monday October 8 and concludes on Friday November 2, 2018. The program encourages primary school aged students to walk, ride or scoot to school, or the school bus, and home again as many times as they can. The students record their walking history on Walk to School calendars that are tallied up at the end of the program.

 

“Council works in partnership with a range of other agencies to deliver this exciting program across our communities,” said Mayor Gibson. “It is great to see the pre-schools also involved in promoting the importance of children being active and healthy from a younger age.”

 

This year Council will focus on installing another two Drop Park Walk active travel routes to school that include Stop, Look, Listen, Think pedestrian safety messages at key crossing points.

 

Mayor Gibson said that the Drop, Park, Walk Active Travel routes make walking, riding and scooting to school an exciting part of the day for children and their families.

 

“The children get really excited about the stencils on the footpaths,” said Mayor Gibson. “The active travel routes also provide the opportunity for parents to drop their children off at a safe drop off point part way to school allowing more students to enjoy the benefits of walking to school.”

 

The Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program is a partnership project between Gannawarra Shire Council, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital, Mallee District Aboriginal Service, Victoria Police, Mallee Family Care, with support from the Southern Mallee Primary Care Partnership.

 

The official launch of the VicHealth Gannawarra Walk to School program will take place at the Koondrook Primary School on Thursday September 13, 2018. 
 

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

 

Tune into radio station 98.7 MixxFM  for Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School messages throughout October.