It takes a community - wellbeing awareness and fundraising

The ‘Claremont Health, Fitness and Well-being Challenge’
We are excited to launch the ‘Claremont Health, Fitness and Well-Being Challenge’ which will culminate in a celebration event on the last day of Term 2 at Grant Reserve on Friday 28th June. As a school we will be raising money for the new ICU Ward at our local Prince of Wales Hospital. Our fundraising target is $10 000 and we ask all parents and your extended families, work colleagues and friends to get behind such an important and worthwhile cause. Our theme is ‘Locals Helping Locals’. All of us certainly benefit from living in close proximity to our local hospital and we want to support and encourage the amazing people at the Prince of Wales who work so tirelessly for our community. This is our opportunity to get behind you and help fund the new hospital which will certainly be a blessing to our local neighbourhood (and beyond) for generations to come.
 
Ten thousand burpees and push-ups! Perhaps a world record?
Did you know that the world record for the most burpees is 7295 in 12 hours!
 
As part of the fund-raising campaign, I have set myself the personal challenge to complete 10 000 burpees and 10 000 push-ups (but not all in one go). I started the challenge back in February and I am just a little over the halfway mark. While I have not set myself a completion date, and I am certainly not going to break any world records, I am hoping to finish on the 28th June at our Celebration Event. My body is already full of lots of aches and pains from doing this, so I am not going to do anything stupid.
 
On our Celebration Day, we are going to break our own Claremont record, by all doing ten thousand burpees at once. 400 teachers and children will each do 25 burpees at once, totalling 10 000, and we think we can break this record in just a few minutes. We hope that many parents will also join us for what will be lots of fun. We are also hoping that the media will be present as well, so that we can share the message of Claremont’s involvement in the local community.
 
My personal connection
Many of you know that this year my family was impacted by the tragic death of my son’s girlfriend, Marli in January. Marli had just graduated Year 12 at Brigidine College and she had the world before her. Marli died of a drug overdose at a party. She had never taken drugs before and she paid the highest price for a very unforgiving mistake.
 
It has certainly been a challenging journey for my son as he makes sense of this loss and comes to terms with his grief. He is definitely not ‘over’ this, but he is making good progress. Gulliver has channelled his energy into his passion by surfing 1000 waves, and he too is raising money for the Prince of Wales Hospital, through his cause ‘1000 Reasons for Marli’. I am so proud of his determination and courage in what has been such a difficult time for him. You might have seen the article in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ on Friday 31st May.
 
Individual well-being goal setting
The tragic loss of Marli, has certainly evoked a lot of soul searching and contemplation about how we make sense of loss and deal with grief. My faith has certainly been a source of strength and comfort.  As a father it has been very difficult to watch my son grapple with his emotions and come to terms with all of this. Gulliver’s surfing challenge has given him a purpose that has helped him to channel his energies and grief into doing something positive, especially so that Marli’s death was not in vain. We all take comfort in this verse:
 
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.
 
As an educator, I have thought deeply and hard about how we prepare children for the challenges of life. Drug education, even in the early years of a child’s education is certainly necessary. I strongly believe that this is a community issue with schools, parents, police and other health professionals collaborating and working to solve problems together. The conversations we have with our children about difficult issues and concepts must be had starting in the early primary years, and not just left until the teen years when they are directly facing the challenges. I also believe strongly that we must be equipping and empowering our children to talk to each other, and to have the skills to support their peers, to be role models and ‘upstanders’ willing to intervene and help others (as opposed to being ‘bystanders’ who watch, keep silent and do nothing).
 
Therefore, as we embark on our Wellbeing Challenge, we have aligned this initiative and our fundraising with our Peer Support Program. Lead capably by our Year 6 and Year 5 students, all children (K-6) are currently participating in four Peer Support sessions that focus on;
 
fitness
healthy eating
mindfulness - gratitude and appreciation
kindness and generosity.
 
Across our Peer Support Program all children will talk about setting an individual goal based on one of the four themes. Their peers will then support, encourage and inspire one-another as they work to achieve these goals. We encourage you to talk to your child over the coming days about what might be their goal (realistic and achievable). This is where our fundraising efforts will connect with individual goals, by asking your friends and family to sponsor them and to encourage them to achieve their well-being goal.
 
Four weeks until the end of Term 2
With four weeks until the end of the term, the ‘Claremont Health, Fitness and Well-being Challenge’ will also be incorporated into the children’s PE, Sport and Health lessons. We will also link key messages into our Chapel teaching theme for Term 2 which is all about being ‘Inspired for Life’.
 
Thanks for reading, and getting on board with these exciting and important initiatives and ideas. Please consider if your business can make a tax-deductible donation, offer prizes or should you have any creative ideas for how you can get involved, please do not hesitate to contact the school.