St Augustine’s make it their business to move
25 May 2022
St Augustine’s Primary School students have ‘dressed up’ their bicycles as part of a fun initiative to get active.
The Rivervale school has been involved in the Your Move program for the past 10 years, promoting better travel choices and community participation to create a safer, healthier, and happier school environment.
Previously known as Travelsmart, the Your Move program is a free government-initiated program that helps students get active by increasing walking, scooting, and riding to school.
Schools work with travel behaviour change experts to address traffic issues and help provide practical ways to teach and develop sustainable transport options for the school community. Schools then share their stories, earn points, and are rewarded with prizes.
St Augustine’s Principal Andy Di Carlantonio said the initiative would not have been successful without the collaborative effort and active participation of staff, students, and their families.
“With the help of our passionate parent coordinator Lindi Harding, Your Move has been revitalised,” Mr Di Carlantonio said.
“In 2021, we reached a double platinum status and accumulated the most points out of all registered schools in Western Australia, by performing many of the registered activities to promote a healthy lifestyle and sustainability suggested by the website.
“I see the benefits of active travel in my own children (mental and physical) and want to share this with others.”
Lindi Harding, St Augustine’s Your Move program parent coordinator
“These activities range from having our Your Move student team complete ‘hands up surveys’ of who rode, scooted, or walked to school throughout the year to students dressing up their bikes to scavenger hunts on the way to school.
“Our status enables the school to access grants to purchase prizes, upgrade resources such as kindergarten tricycles, bike racks and we are now working towards a bike storage cage.”
Mr Di Carlantonio said Ms Harding’s efforts had been integral to the success of the program at St Augustine’s.
Ms Harding said the program was a powerful way to encourage healthy outcomes for students, improve traffic congestion in the community and lower carbon emissions.
“One of the initiatives was implementing a ‘green foot’ class award at assembly for the class with the most active travellers. Sharing our stories on the Your Move website has helped keep a healthy balance of points to assist with further initiatives and promotions,” she said.
“I see the benefits of active travel in my own children (mental and physical) and want to share this with others. Increasing confidence in active travel in childhood will help students develop healthy habits into adulthood.”
For more information, go to https://www.yourmove.org.au/schools/
To read more about St Augustine’s involvement in Your Move, go to https://www.yourmove.org.au/st-augustines-school/
