A PROGRAMME pioneered by Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School in North Beach getting every student to enjoy fitness is being used by other WA Catholic schools and as a blueprint by the City to Surf and the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER).
Our Lady of Grace (OLG) parents Lynley Papineau and Antonette Fazzari conceived StepUp4Kids as preparation for the City to Surf event and soon galvanised almost every student in the school to participate in a 10-week get fit programme as a leadup to the City to Surf.
The programme saw students walk around the school oval every Friday lunchtime to achieve the distance of a half-marathon, just under 21km. Parents eventually joined the students and a number of teachers have taken up the challenge as well in an effort to encourage the students.
Last year students met role models such as baseballer Travis Murphy (Perth Heat), netballer Sarah Ebbott (West Coast Fever), West Coast Eagles footballers Ryan Neates and Ashley Hansen, former Test cricketer Justin Langer and Western Warriers star Ryan Campbell, boxer Danny Green, Socceroo Stan Lazaridis, Channel 7 sports journalist and former West Perth footballer Basil Zempilas and Channel 9 Newsreader Dixie Marshall, plus local fire fighters, police and grandparents who modelled fitness – who walked with them to help achieve their goal.
OLG parent organisers, role models and the Year 6 Sports Ministry team organised a ‘super coach’ for every class to encourage students to achieve their laps. The coaches stamped students’ cards as they completed each lap and kept cheering and encouraging their class to do ‘just one more lap’.
OLG sports teacher Tony Brown also tested the students’ fitness at the start and end of the programme.
The school canteen manager also published healthy recipes for the students to try as part of the overall drive to adopt a healthy and fit lifestyle. Students were surveyed halfway through the programme and responses were very positive.
“It is great to be able to talk and share time with friends and do exercise as well,” commented one student. OLG Principal Chris Kenworthy said that it has been life changing in terms of fitness and healthy lifestyle for some of the students.
The programme culminated in the OLG team winning the City to Surf ‘Team’ category of the event in 2010 and the school received the prize of $25,000 in solar panels, an unexpected but most welcome addition to the school’s efforts to be environmentally responsible.
The City to Surf for Activ saw a sea of canary yellow t-shirts descend upon the event and StepUp4Kids cheered every one of the 236 parents and their children over the line.
The success of the StepUp4Kids has led to the City to Surf event organisers promoting it as a model to increase team membership in 2011. They have presented it to ACHPER who have decided to roll it out throughout WA as the new ‘Go the Distance’ schools programme.
Neighbouring Catholic secondary school Sacred Heart College in Sorrentoalso adopted the Step Up programme to encourage the younger students on to their oval and to help students to see the benefit of an active life.
The Go the Distance programme also aims to increase and develop the health and fitness of school aged children. WA primary schools are encouraged to take up the programme, which also acts as a training platform for the 4km walk/run at the Chevron City to Surf for Activ. The 10-week interactive programme is also based on the StepUp4Kids Programme that OLG created in 2010.
For more information, including a training programme, certificate templates, roster and student distance card, please conult:
http://www.citytosurf.activ.asn.au/3/3540/3470/go_the_distance.pm