Thank you for Walking to School with us
Published on 19 November 2019
Hindmarsh Shire Council joined VicHealth in its mission to get kids walking, riding and scooting to school as part of the health promotion foundation’s annual Walk to School program.
This year the seven primary schools within Hindmarsh Shire joined the program funded by VicHealth which was extended until November.
In delivering the Walk to School program Hindmarsh Shire Council worked together with each primary school to have a weekly event to help motivate the kids to walk and to develop their creativity with many students creating poems, maps and drawings to describe their experiences whilst walking to school.
Several schools coordinated a “Fruit Walk” in which the participants enjoyed a 20-minute walk with the teachers on their school oval whilst eating fresh fruit.
St. Patrick’s Catholic School, Nhill celebrated a “Socks Parade” which coincided with a healthy snacks event where fresh fruit smoothies were served enabling students to learn the importance of walking to school safely and healthy eating habits all on the one day.
Schools including Rainbow P-12, Jeparit Primary School and Dimboola Primary School included a dress up day to link with their Halloween activities. Some students also walked to their local library or Hindmarsh Shire Council Office, helping them to get to know their local services whilst exercising. These lucky students found some prizes waiting for them.
During Children’s week, Council staff visited the schools with smoothie making events, which were extremely popular with the students who participated in the making of healthy fruit smoothies in a range of flavours using berries, mango, pineapple and banana.
Responses from the kids were very positive, with feedback indicating that some students had changed their attitude towards eating different fruits after trying the smoothies.
To celebrate the conclusion of the Walk to School program St. Peter’s Lutheran School, Dimboola had their BBQ along the river in Dimboola. Both teachers and students enjoyed the walk from the school to the river’s edge where the BBQ was held.
Students from Dimboola Memorial Secondary College organized sports activities with the primary school students.
Nhill Primary School closed their Walk to School program with a Smoothie and BBQ day which was delivered with the assistance of the Lions Club of Nhill.
Students were encouraged to walk to school as many times as possible during the month and if they couldn’t walk to school, they were encouraged to complete their walks at home in their garden or at their school’s oval during the lunch break. Each walk was marked on a classroom calendar and every walk was counted. The walks were tallied and the participants that had the most recorded walks were awarded prizes. Some of the prizes included drink bottles, hats, notepads and pencils while the top prize for each school was a brand new scooter. Additionally, Council hosted a small BBQ for each school to thank students for their efforts.
VicHealth and Hindmarsh Shire Council would like to congratulate all of the schools involved and thank the parents, teachers, and students for their outstanding efforts during these events. The support for Walk to School 2019 has been fantastic.
For more information contact Gabriela Castro, Community Development Officer on 5391 4444 gcastro@hindmarsh.vic.gov.au or visit the Walk to School website www.walktoschool.vic.gov.au.
Greg Wood
Chief Executive Officer