Tuesday 8 December 2015

Local School Wins VicHealth Walk to School Regional Prize


Kerang Christian College has been announced as a first time participant winner for the North West region.

 All 57 Kerang Christian College students (100%) participated by walking, riding, skating or scooting to or from school during October and marking their activity on the VicHealth Walk to School classroom calendars. Total student participation across the month was 78.2%. Walks totalled 1784 and based on the average walking distance that’s 1281 kms – equivalent of walking from Kerang to Canberra and almost home again!

The school’s prize is free tickets to the Melbourne Stars practice match on 15 December 2015.

 


Well done to Kerang Christian College and the other ten local primary schools who participated.

All up Gannawarra students walked 16,237 times as part of October’s Walk to School program and based on the average walking distance this equates to 11,658 kilometres – that’s almost a circuit around Australia!

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.

 LIKE our Facebook page to continue to keep up to date with Healthy Lifestyle programs at Gannawarra: www.facebook.com/HealthyGannawarra.

Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School Wrap Up


The 2015 Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program has come to an end and Gannawarra Shire Council at its meeting held on Wednesday 18 October passed a motion of thanks to the following partners:
VicHealth, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital, Victoria Police, Gannawarra Library Service, Rocky’s Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna, Border Packers Koondrook, IGA Cohuna, IGA Kerang, Woolworths Kerang, Gray’s Bakery, Murray Milk, Kerang South Primary School, Kerang Primary School, St. Joseph’s Primary School Kerang, Kerang Christian College, Cohuna Consolidated Primary School, St. Mary’s Primary School Cohuna, Leitchville Primary School, Koondrook Primary School, Lake Charm Primary School, Murrabit Group School, Quambatook Group School, and the Dental Health School at LaTrobe University Bendigo.

Some Key Points
For the first time all eleven Gannawarra primary schools participated in the 2015 Gannawarra Walk to School program. That’s 763 students. 95% of these students (726) participated by walking, riding, skating or scooting to school, or the school bus, throughout October.

Walks for the month totalled 16,237 and based on the average walking distance this equates to 11,658 kilometres
 – that’s almost a circuit around Australia!
 
Ten events were coordinated throughout October, with Lake Charm and Quambatook combining for a joint activity.
A Facebook page was established at the commencement of the program with 121 followers at the end of the month.
A Gannawarra Walk to School BLOG assisted in recording stories from events and sharing these stories across other Gannawarra schools and the wider community.
Gannawarra posts were shared across the state via the VicHealth Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
4 schools participated in the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy aimed at motivating children to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school throughout the month and to fill in the VicHealth Walk to School calendars.
Through the activities at individual schools and via Facebook, Twitter and the BLOG, promotion of Gannawarra Shire as a great place to live and visit were provided. This year community walks took place at Leitchville, Lake Charm, Murrabit and Cohuna to showcase the towns and to increase the sense of community for students.
The majority of the food for healthy fruit and vegetable platters, breakfasts, lunches and milk were donated by local businesses namely: Rockys Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna, Border Packers Koondrook, IGA Cohuna and IGA Kerang, Gray’s Bakery, Woolworths Kerang and Murray Milk. In fact Council’s food bill for the month to feed 763 hungry students totaled the very small amount of $145.20!


Involvement in the VicHealth Walk to School program supports Council’s Healthy Liveable Communities priority area and the new Gannawarra Municipal Early Years Plan which has the vision to support every child to have a great start to life.
Primary schools are a key setting for promoting healthy liveable communities were children can grow and develop in a supportive and safe environment but also where they develop a sense of place and pride in their community that may entice them to one day raise their own families in Gannawarra.
The program provides a fabulous opportunity for Council to take a leadership role in coordinating a large scale community health program focused on promoting healthy lifestyles, and the opportunity to have conversations with schools on other important issues that impact on the educational and community outcomes for children.
Great feedback has been received from schools and media coverage has provided positive promotion for all parties involved.
An evaluation of the 2015 program will occur in partnership with health agencies and participating schools. This will ensure that the outcomes are captured as well as key learnings and opportunities to build on the partnership approach in the future.
Thanks again to all who supported the 2015 program.

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.
LIKE our Facebook page to continue to keep up to date with Healthy Lifestyle programs at Gannawarra: www.facebook.com/HealthyGannawarra.








Monday 16 November 2015

Presentation of Gannawarra Golden Shoe Trophies


Vying for a Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy provided extra motivation for classes at four local primary schools to walk, ride, skate or scoot to school throughout October as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program.

Trophies were presented to the winning classes at Kerang Christian College, Kerang Primary School, Kerang South Primary School and St. Joseph's Primary School.

Read all about the winning classes and their fantastic walking results below…

St Joseph’s Primary School

Drum roll please...And the winning class of the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy at St. Joseph's Primary School was GRADE 4 with 68% participation throughout Walk to School month.

Cr. Brian Gibson presented the Golden Shoe to Declan and Amelia on Thursday 5th November and the whole class celebrated their win!

Students in Grade 4 walked, rode, skated or scooted to school 493 times out of a possible 722.

Closely following was Grade 5/6 with 56%, Grade 2/3 with 55%, Grade 1/2 with 47% and Prep with 44%.

Well done to all students for their great walking throughout Walk to School month.




Kerang South Primary School

Cr. Brian Gibson was super excited to be at Kerang South Primary School's assembly on Friday 6th November to present the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy to the class who walked, rode, skated or scooted to school the most throughout October as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program.

Grade 3/4 were the winning class with 60% participation. Accepting the trophy were Tyler, Shamana, Kane, Grace and Bryce who all achieved 100% participation by getting actively to and from school every-day during October. What a great effort!

Full results: Grade 3/4 60%, Grade 5/6 (Ms Simmonds) 51%, Grade 4/5 49.5%, Grade 5/6 (Ms Sutherland) 48.7%, Grade 2 47.6%, Grade Prep/1 (Ms Goudie) 41%, Grade Prep/1 (Ms Teasdale) 39%, Grade 2/3 30% and Grade 1/2 23%. Well done everyone!




Kerang Primary School

Excitement was in the air on Thursday 12th November at Kerang Primary School as students returned from their morning walk/run around the block.

Cr. Oscar Aertssen was present to announce the winners of the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program...

 Drum roll please...

And the winners were "GRADE 2/3/4" with participation across Walk to School month of 58%. Second place went to Prep/1 with 55% and third place to Grade 5/6 at 49%.

Five students from the winning Grade 2/3/4 class actively travelled to and from school, or around a set circuit at school, 80% of the VicHealth Walk to School month of October walking 30 times out of the possible 38. Xander, Isabelle, Keifa, Abii and Bobbi accepted the Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy on behalf of their class. The week these students didn't mark walking activity on their VicHealth Walk to School calendar was when they were on school camp at Queenscliffe - they did however do lots of walking while there exploring the beachside village and playing on the sand.

 Well done to all students for their efforts in getting actively to and from school, or the school bus, throughout the month. Keep up the great walking...





Kerang Christian College

Two classes at Kerang Christian College competed against each other in an effort to win a Gannawarra Golden Shoe trophy as part of the Gannawarra Vic Health Walk to School program.

The winning year level was announced by Cr. Oscar Aertssen at a special ceremony on Thursday 12th November.

The end result was extremely close - and the WINNERS - "Year 5/6" with participation across the month of 98.5% closely followed by Year 3/4 with 95.2%. A fantastic effort by both year levels....

Not everyone has the opportunity to walk or ride to or from school, or the school bus, so in recognition of this Kerang Christian College supported all students to walk or run every-day while at school around a 500 metre circuit. This is a great way for all children to participate in the VicHealth Walk to School Program and to improve their fitness and their health, wellbeing and learning.

Students were encouraged to keep up the effort all year round.





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.







 

Monday 2 November 2015

Ride2School Media Clip Launched

Three Gannawarra primary schools - Kerang Primary School, Kerang South Primary School and Cohuna Consolidated School - participated in National Ride2School Day activities in March 2015.

As a result, Gannawarra Shire Council applied for and received a $5,000 Bicycle Network Victoria grant. This was one of only two grants awarded across Victoria.

The funding was used to develop a Gannawarra Ride2School media clip with students at the three schools enthusiastically participating in the filming process.

The clip has been launched at all eleven Gannawarra Primary Schools as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program throughout the month of October.

To view the clip:

Healthy October at Lake Charm

For the whole month of October, students from Lake Charm Primary School have focused on Healthy Living adopting the theme 'Healthy October'.

The majority of students travel by bus to the small school located in the Kerang Lakes district. This makes it difficult for students to walk or ride to school as part of participating in the VicHealth Walk to School program. But each morning students and teachers have walked or jogged 1.6 kilometres. Fitness levels have increased as the month has progressed and after three weeks they report feeling much healthier.

Students have put together three media clips to promote healthy and active living. It's great to see them taking an active role promoting the importance of healthy lifestyles. Take a look at their clips:

Exercise:




TV usage:



SunSmart:


Students have also developed a Healthy October brochure to encourage all people to eat Healthy Foods, Exercise more, to stay Hydrated by drinking water and to be Sunsmart by remembering to Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide! Very important messages as the weather warms up.





St. Joseph's Primary School

St. Joseph’s, along with all other primary schools across the Gannawarra Shire, have encouraged children to get out and about walking, riding, skating and scooting to and from school or the school bus throughout October as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program.

Developing a sense of independence, connecting with friends and taking notice of the world around them provides important learning opportunities for children. Walking or riding to school, or the school bus, is a great way to start the day and arriving at school alert and ready to learn is an added bonus!

On Friday 30th October a special event was held at the school to celebrate the benefits of living a healthy and active life.

Cr. Brian Gibson came along and launched the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip and encouraged all students to continue to actively travel to and from school, or the school bus, as often as they can throughout the year. It’s a great way for children to establish life-long healthy habits. Learning about road rules and pedestrian safety is also really important with children encouraged to Stop, Look, Listen and Think!


Making choices that support an active and healthy life as children grow is also important and making the right choice can be a bit challenging in today’s age where marketing tricks make products appear healthier than they actually are. So, as part of the event, Tanya, a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health led an interactive talk about sugar in food and drinks.

Sugar is essential for brains and bodies to receive the energy needed to function but getting this sugar from natural sources like apples and oranges is much better for us than getting sugar out of a bottle or packet. Did you know that 4 grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon? Students were encouraged to practice their maths by taking a closer look at drink labels and looking out for quantities. Even a small drink like a prima contains 5 teaspoons of sugar! We played a game of matching sugar bottles to drinks on a board. A 600ml bottle of Coke has 64 grams of sugar, Lift has 66 grams of sugar and Sunkist has 70.8 grams of sugar – that’s more than 18 teaspoons of sugar! Even an iced tea has almost 8 teaspoons and a Dare iced coffee more than 11 teaspoons!


The same of course applies to food. Don’t be tricked by words on the box or packet as food manufacturers are very tricky at making their product look like a healthy option. Words such as real fruit, yoghurt top, low fat, natural or healthy don’t necessarily mean that the product is a healthy option. Sometimes these foods contain more sugar than others that are similar – a yoghurt topped muesli bar for example has almost twice as much sugar as a plain muesli bar!

If we eat too much sugar and don’t use all that sugar during the day it converts to fat in the body and eventually may cause us to become overweight and lead to some nasty health issues like Diabetes and Heart Disease. Too much sugar makes us feel tired and lacking in energy so it’s important to eat a balanced diet based on the essential food groups – Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy and Meat.

Sugar feeds bacteria in our mouths and can lead to tooth decay so Tanya explained how to brush our teeth properly. A soft brush, a dob of fluoride toothpaste and two minutes morning and night is all that’s needed. A healthy mouth and teeth help us to feel confident, to speak and to chew. We only get two sets of teeth in a life-time so it’s important to look after them! Use small circular movements taking special care to clean the inside, outside and tops of teeth and those big molars at the back where food can get stuck. Brushing the tongue is also important to remove some of those germs and to keep our breath smelling fresh.



Karyl from Kerang District Health came along to talk about the importance of being active every-day. If we are active our bodies are fit and strong, we don’t get sick as often and sleep well at night. We are also more likely to be happy because exercise releases some beneficial chemicals into our bloodstreams that help us to feel good about ourselves. Karyl said it was great to see so many children out and about walking and riding in Kerang and showed the children easy, free and fun exercises to build up their muscle strength like bicep curls, shoulder lifts and stretching by doing push ups or working the large muscles in the legs by sliding slowly down a wall.



Karyl’s exercises were a great way to warm up for a walk around the block.
 


Back at the school we enjoyed a healthy fruit snack of watermelon, apples and bananas donated by Rocky’s Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna and juicy local oranges provided by Border Packers Koondrook. We also had yummy cold glasses of milk provided by Murray Milk or an icy cold cup of water.
 
 




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.
 
 

Thursday 29 October 2015

St. Mary's Primary School

The 5 Ways to Wellbeing – Connect, Be Active, Keep Learning, Take Notice and Give flowed through an event at St. Mary’s this week as we celebrated the health and wellbeing benefits of living a healthy and active life.

The event was part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program with students encouraged to walk, ride, scoot or skate to school throughout October. Incorporating this extra physical activity into daily living is important; students develop a greater sense of independence, learn more about the environment around them, meet up with their friends, and arrive at school alert and ready to learn. Bus travellers have been supported to walk or run a set circuit at school during recess so that they too can mark their activity on the classroom walking calendars.

Cr. Lorraine Learmonth came along to the event and encouraged students to continue to actively travel to and from school, or the school bus, all year round. She said that all eleven primary schools across the Gannawarra Shire have joined more than 500 schools across Victoria to get out and about in their communities walking or riding to school throughout October. It’s a healthy habit that the Gannawarra Shire, schools and partner organisations are keen to support.


A launch and viewing of the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip followed. Promoting riding to school, pedestrian safety messages and how to check the ABC for bikes – Air, Brakes and Chain, the clip had been produced by the shire with students from Cohuna Consolidated, Kerang Primary and Kerang South Primary School as part of the Ride2School program earlier in the year.

Next we heard from Jess, a District Nurse with Cohuna District Hospital. Jess talked to the students about how an important part of her role as a nurse is to keep people healthy and well so that they don’t end up in hospital. Students demonstrated some activities that can be done every day to help build muscle and bone strength to prevent injuries. Stretching is an easy, free and fun way to start to build up muscle strength.
 


Fuelling our bodies with the right food is also important to living a healthy and active life. Tanya, a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health, opened our eyes to the amount of sugar in common food and drinks. Did you know that a 600ml bottle of Coke has 64 grams of sugar, a 600ml bottle of Lift has 66 grams of sugar and a 600ml bottle of Sunkist has 70.8 grams of sugar. With 4 grams equal to one teaspoon that’s almost 18 teaspoons of sugar! Even a small drink like a prima contains 5 teaspoons!

Students learnt what to look for on food labels and were encouraged to take a closer look over the coming days and weeks so that they are more informed. Our brains and bodies need a small amount of sugar but we should be getting that sugar from natural foods such as fruits rather than from processed foods. We also learnt about some of the tricky things food manufacturers do to make their product look like a healthy option such as using words like real fruit, yoghurt top, low fat, natural or healthy. Sometimes these foods contain more sugar than others that are similar – a yoghurt topped muesli bar for example has almost twice as much sugar as a plain muesli bar!

Tanya said how important it is to eat well, drink well and brush well so as part of her talk she showed students how to brush their teeth using a soft brush, a dob of fluoride toothpaste and small circular movements taking special care to clean the inside, outside and tops of teeth and those big molars at the back where food can get stuck. Brushing twice a day - morning and night - will help keep our pearly whites smiling! Healthy teeth help us to chew, speak, smile and be confident. We only get two sets of teeth in a life-time so it’s important to look after them. Cohuna’s water supply isn’t fluoridated so to get the added benefit of strengthening the teeth with fluoride it’s recommended not to rinse with water after brushing.



Andrew, a local policeman, came along to talk about staying safe when out an about walking and riding in the community or on farms and to remember to Stop, Look, Listen, Think! He picked out some important messages from the Ride2School media clip - wearing a well fitted helmet, checking a bike’s roadworthiness – the ABC – Air, Brakes and Chain, how to ride safety on the footpath and road taking care to look out for cars backing out of driveways. While it’s popular to wear headphones and listen to music while riding and walking this means we can’t Listen for cars, trucks, motorbikes and other danger. This means it's a really unsafe thing to do.
 

Looking after our wellbeing is also an important part of living a healthy life and the 5 Ways to Wellbeing are some simple things we can do every-day to improve our health and wellbeing. After being issued with a ‘walking passport’ students collected the 5 Ways to Wellbeing stamps as they enjoyed a walk around the school oval.






Back at the school we enjoyed a healthy fruit snack of watermelon, apples and bananas donated by Rocky’s Fruit and Vegetables Cohuna and juicy local oranges provided by Border Packers Koondrook. We also had yummy cold glasses of milk provided by Murray Milk or an icy cold cup of water.



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.
 
 

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Cohuna Consolidated Primary School

Some students walked; some rode and some even scooted! It didn’t matter how they got to school but it was great to see that almost 100% of students at Cohuna Consolidated Primary School travelled to school, or the school bus, actively as part a special event to promote Walking to School.

Walking, riding, scooting or skating to school are great ways for children to establish life-long healthy habits. It's also important for developing a sense of independence and learning more about the world around them. Arriving at school alert and ready to learn is a bonus!

Cr. Lorraine Learmonth congratulated all students for putting in a huge effort throughout October’s Walk to School month. Cohuna Consolidated Primary School is one of 11 primary schools participating in the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program along with more than 500 other primary schools across Victoria. Cr. Learmonth said how proud she was to see so many students actively travelling to school and encouraged students to continue this healthy habit year round.
 
 
A launch and viewing of the new Gannawarra Ride2School media clip was much anticipated with a number of students from Cohuna Consolidated involved in the production. A special award was presented to Zephyn who had a lead role in the media clip. Zephyn’s dad has been teaching him to ride his bike – how to check the ABC for bikes – Air, Brakes and Chain, keeping to the left and riding in single file.
 

The theme for this year’s Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program is active and healthy living. Jess, a District Nurse with Cohuna District Hospital, came along to talk about the importance of fitting lots of physical activity into daily routines to keep young bodies fit and healthy. Students helped demonstrate activities that build muscle strength such as bicep curls, lifts and stretches.
 

 
Tanya, a Community Health Nurse with Northern District Community Health, led an interactive sugar display. This followed on from oral health screening undertaken by volunteer dentists from the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service earlier this year at Cohuna Consolidated Primary School as part of the Rural Engaging Communities in Oral Health project. The dentists raised concern at the amount of tooth decay they saw in children at primary schools and pre-schools across the Gannawarra Shire. As a result the Dental Health School at Latrobe University in Bendigo provided the sugar display as part of the Gannawarra VicHealth Walk to School program to help children better understand the importance of good oral health.
 
A tooth-brushing demonstration helped children gain greater knowledge of how to look after their teeth – slow and gentle circular movements to help clean all the teeth, paying special attention to those big back teeth where food can easily get stuck. Brushing twice a day with a soft toothbrush and pea sized amount of fluoride toothpaste is all that’s needed, along with about two minutes morning and night. Cohuna’s water supply isn’t fluoridated so to get the added benefit of strengthening the teeth with fluoride it’s recommended not to rinse with water after brushing.
 
We found out too that there is lots of sugar in some drinks like soft drinks, sports drinks, iced coffee, iced tea and juice that young children just don’t need. It’s much better to fuel our bodies with crunchy fruit and vegetables that help keep our mind and body healthy and our teeth strong and cavity free. Students were encouraged to take a look at food labels where the sugar content is listed in grams - remembering that 4 grams is equal to one teaspoon. Did you know that a 600ml bottle of Lift soft-drink has 66 grams of sugar - that’s more than 16 teaspoons! Even a small prima has 5 teaspoons of sugar.
 

 
Following some important Stop, Look, Listen, Think! messages from policeman Andrew we went on a walk to Gilrule Park on the banks of the Gunbower Creek. What a lucky community Cohuna is to have this beautiful creek and the surrounding environment right in the middle of town! We saw a family of ducks, a kookaburra and read about local fish and Major Mitchell's expedition through the area in 1836. We had to cross the busy Murray Valley Highway to get to Gilrule Park so this was an important way to put into action those Stop, Look, Listen, Think! messages.
 






 
Back at school we enjoyed a healthy fruit snack of watermelon, apples and bananas donated by Rocky’s Fruit and Vegetables in Cohuna and juicy local oranges provided by Border Packers in Koondrook. We also had delicious cold glasses of milk provided by Murray Milk.
 




 
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.