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Getting active Pupils at St John the Apostle Catholic Primary School in Tarneit will join more than 350,000 students across the nation who will ride, walk, scoot and skate to school on National Ride2School Day on Friday, March 24. National Ride2School Day is Australia’s biggest celebration of active travel and the peak of the nationwide Ride2School program which works to help children get their 60 minutes of daily exercise by riding a bike to school. St John the Apostle bike education teacher Jill Stevenson said last year, 75 per cent of pupils participated in the program. “Ride2school day teaches students that active transport is a great way to get to school. It’s fun, they can do it with friends or family, and it’s great for both the environment and their health and well being,” she said. National Ride2School Day is a free event open to all primary and secondary schools in Australia. Schools that register have access to a range of resources to help them celebrate the day, including posters, promotional material, stickers and count sheets to tally the number of students who ride to school. St John The Apostle pupils Bilen, Grace, Alier, Alina and Jayne. (Damjan Janevski) 322206_03
Angry mum spared jail By Emily Wood, AAP A mother-of-three was drunk and angry after her boyfriend assaulted her during an argument about their approaches to parenting when she flung him from a car, almost killing him. Tara McConchie, 37, faced the County Court in Melbourne on Wednesday, March 8 where she avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty to negligently causing injury to her then-partner in March 2021. The couple of 10 years had been drinking all afternoon and into the evening at a Point
Cook house party when they began arguing about their differing approaches to parenting and her boyfriend assaulted her. She went outside to their four-wheel drive, which had her boyfriend’s jetski attached on a trailer, and drove off. McConchie returned and then stopped on a suburban road near the party, where she tried to unhitch the trailer. Her partner yelled at her and then jumped onto the 4WD, holding on to the roof rack. She revved the motor, but he stayed clinging to the car when she began accelerating.
She got up to 41km/h and then hit the brakes, flinging him off the vehicle and onto the road. He suffered serious head injuries, including a brain haemorrhage, skull fractures and nerve damage, requiring surgery and rehabilitation. “Driving at all with a blood alcohol level of 0.186 is highly dangerous and illegal,” Judge Gerard Mullaly said. “Serious injury if not death was inevitable.” He handed McConchie a three-year community corrections order and ordered she undertake 300 hours of unpaid community work.
Judge Mullaly said his sentence took into account “the whole picture” of the offending, including domestic violence and that the victim jumped on the car and remained there after she revved the engine. “This is a merciful sentence to allow you to remain outside prison, but if you don’t do what’s required of you, you will go to prison almost inevitably,” he said. McConchie, who was supported in court by her new partner, was also disqualified from driving for two years. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
OPEN DAY Sunday 19 March 2023 10.30am – 2.00pm Register today thomascarr.vic.edu.au 35 Thomas Carr Drive, Tarneit VIC 3029 12582255-FC11-23