By BRIDGET SCOTT
THE launch of a huge initiative aimed at getting families more active was held at St Patrick’s Primary School in Pakenham on Wednesday.
The Cardinia Shire Healthy Together campaign is a two-year initiative, which co-ordinators hope will see primary school-aged children and their families become more active both during and outside school hours.
On Wednesday morning more than 100 students from St Patrick’s threw on their runners to spend an hour in the sun before stepping into the classroom.
This marked the beginning of the Activate Your Family campaign which will run over the course of the Department of Health funding period from December through to February.
Both teachers and staff from Cardinia Shire Council ran activities throughout the morning to give children the chance to kickstart their day in a healthy manner.
The initiative will include family active plans, summer wish list, family holiday activities and more.
Partnership and Engagement officer from Cardinia Shire Council Freya Mellor-Prior said the aim of this campaign was to raise awareness about the many fun ways families could be active together.
She pointed out overwhelming statistics which revealed that 55 per cent of the Cardinia Shire population did not achieve adequate moderate physical activity and 40 per cent of Cardinia Shire open spaces were under-utilised.
Ms Mellor-Prior also outlined the great opportunity this presents for families local to Pakenham.
“We want to give Pakenham families the chance to get involved in physical activities with no cost barrier,” she said.
“We’d love to see families being active together, enjoying quality time together as a family, and meeting new people in their community.”
The recent launch also ties in with another council initiative called Govember, which is aimed at encouraging children to get to school in an active way, such as walking, riding, scooting or skating.
Emma O’Brien from St Patricks in Pakenham was the main driving force behind this local primary school taking part.
Emma pointed out that every Wednesday is Active Wednesday at the primary school, with students given the chance to have a run around before and during school.
Ms O’Brien said this was an initiative thoroughly enjoyed by the students and something the school hoped to continue far into the future.
All activities that are part of this council drive are free to the community and will include outdoor Zumba classes, outdoor boot camps and many more ’come and try’ sessions that are family friendly.
Visit the Cardinia Shire Council website or Healthy Together Cardinia Shire facebook page to find out the ways your family can be involved.
