Students at Tannum Sands State School have been skipping up a storm as part of the Jump Rope for Heart program, shooting up to number one for fundraising out of all the schools across Australia.
The Gladstone school has raised more than $28,000 since students started skipping for healthier hearts in the June-July holidays, making it the highest fundraising school nationally so far this year.
Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s skipping and fundraising program run in Australian primary schools throughout the year. It encourages kids to have a positive attitude towards exercise, healthy eating, and heart health, while raising funds to fight heart disease.
The school will stage a Jump Off Day this week to mark the end of the six-week program, giving its new skipping superstars a chance to show off the skills they learned throughout the term.
“Our goal was for students to have fun keeping healthy and active and we set a goal of completing 1000 hours of skipping for our school. We set a modest fundraising total, but our community has really decided this was an important cause, so we couldn’t be prouder of their efforts,” said the school’s principal, John Adie.
Our sports captains have really stepped up, giving up their lunch breaks to support the program and encourage other kids to log skipping hours. The students have had a lot of fun skipping and learning tricks, but this has also highlighted for them why we should look after our hearts.
About 270 students signed up for Jump Rope, together skipping for more than 950 hours.
Heart Foundation Queensland CEO, Stephen Vines, congratulated the school on its efforts.
“This is an amazing feat. We are extremely grateful for Tannum Sands State School’s support of our Jump Rope program, and hope students enjoy showcasing their new skills,” Mr Vines said.
As these students discovered, Jump Rope for Heart is lots of fun and great exercise, but it also helps the Heart Foundation in its important work funding lifesaving research and health projects.
This year has posed some challenges for the popular Jump Rope for Heart program, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting schools across the country.
“In response, we have developed new ways to engage with teachers, kids, and parents, including some terrific about skipping and heart health,” Mr Vines said.
A total of 71 Queensland primary schools are taking part in Jump Rope in Term 3.
Since 1983, schools participating in Jump Rope for Heart have raised more than $104 million to help fight heart disease – Australia’s single biggest killer.
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