All roads lead to St Joe’s

By Rohan Aldous

Mar 27, 2023

Leader of the pack: Archie Watson leads the school-bound contingent of riders across the Campaspe River bridge with Seth Hunter following closely behind.

Rochester’s St Joseph’s Primary School wellbeing officer Lorraine Bain has had a busy start to the year, helping students displaced by the October floods and managing the associated mental health challenges facing the school community with the challenges of the past six moths.

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But it didn’t stop her from bringing broad smiles to the faces of every student involved in National Ride2School Day last week.

Two sets of students set off from different starting points, both en-route to the Campaspe St school, where stop sign-carrying principal Liz Trewick acted as school crossing supervisor.

Riding a bike is a core focus of the Victorian Government’s Active Schools initiative, which supports school communities to go beyond traditional physical education and sport to find opportunities for physical activity throughout the day.

The government launched the Active Schools, Active Kids, Active Communities initiative in November 2020, putting $24.6 million towards ensuring students have the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours that lead to healthy and active lives.

A further $1.4 million has been committed to continue the Ride2School program led by Bicycle Network Victoria, ensuring more kids are encouraged to stay active and healthy.

More than 203,280 students from more than 484 schools around Australia registered for Ride2School in 2023.