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.
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.
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