THE start of kindergarten can be a worrying moment at the best of times for a parent.
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For Jo Keane, the thought of her daughter Katie going to kindergarten brought her to tears.
“I cried when I first met the manager,” Ms Keane said.
“I was so nervous, since our four-year-old daughter Katie had had eleven severe reactions requiring emergency treatment prior to starting kinder.”
But upon meeting Port Fairy Kindergarten teachers Karen Dalton and Megan Price, this despair soon turned to comfort for Ms Keane. The trio got their heads together six months out from Katie’s kinder start date to forge a path that would provide her with a safe learning environment.
“We basically problem-solved together on all the potential risks,” Ms Keane said.
“They had a script that we developed beside all phones to assist in communicating to the ambulance, including details of her name, history, address of service and prompts to state symptoms.”
Precautions were taken with alterations made to parts of everyday life that may have had a negative impact on Katie’s health.
It was to be a plan that worked, with Katie going through her four-year-old kindergarten year in 2017 without incident.
Ms Keane also credited the forward planning in helping Katie successfully transition to school this year.
“Kinder was also pivotal in communicating with school to help set them up and prevent them re-creating everything,” she said.
“They are a great example of how committed teachers can be.”
So impressed was Ms Keane about the work of Ms Dalton and Ms Price, she successfully nominated them for an Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia ‘Be A Mate’ award. The teachers were presented with the award at a ceremony in Port Fairy on Tuesday.
Ms Dalton said the praise for Katie’s successful year at kinder should be wide spread.
“It was an amazing team effort,” Ms Dalton said.
“All our staff, Katie and her family and the other children, everyone helped make this work. Moyne Shire Council were also wonderful, they offered great support.’
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