Southern Peninsula
South ern Penin
sula
8 December
Your guide to what’s on this weekend for peninsula families
2015
Heavens gate > Page 3
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Paws for a cuddle
THE pets were oh, so friendly at the Peninsula Pet Expo at the Village Green, Rosebud last week – just ask dog rescuer Kim Payne, who got more than a mouthful from this cuddly fellow. The expo was a hive of activity with animals of all shapes and sizes, including miniature ponies, dogs, rats and cats, marsupials, birds from parrots to eagles, pythons, lizards and crocodiles and local snake varieties tigers and copper heads, both species found on the peninsula. Two birds of prey included the barking owl and Twitch the peregrine falcon – a breed clocked flying at 389kph making it the fastest animal in the world. Visitors watched the cow milking, horse grooming, sheep herding and shearing, dog training and horsemanship demonstrations. There was a miniature pony show and specialty breeds cat show. A highlight for the children included free face painting and roving performers, including Shaun the Sheep and Mr Peabody & Sherman. Picture: Yanni
Panic as bus misses child drop-off Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au A ROSEBUD mother “went into panic mode� on 11 November when she feared her autistic son had been left on the school bus unattended – again. Belinda Hunt, whose son, Kaileb, 9, attends Peninsula Specialist College, Dromana and was being picked up and dropped off by a private school bus each day, says she now does the job herself. In March, he was “missed� by the
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driver of the Westernport Road Lines at school drop-off and spent either 50 minutes or several hours – depending on who’s asked – alone at the back of the bus parked at the depot. “I assumed he was at school,� Mrs Hunt said of that episode. “But they had no idea where he was. I was running around screaming for a few hours until we were notified.� Mrs Hunt said her son, in shock and unable to attract attention to himself, did not eat or drink on the bus as he waited to be discovered. Fortunately,
the driver returned and “got quite a shock� to find him still in his seat. She said her high-needs child depended on people supporting him and he had been traumatised by the events. This first incident prompted Mrs Hunt to push successfully for revamped safety procedures, liaising with the bus company, school and even visiting the Student Transport Commission. “I felt they had made a mistake,� she said. “All I wanted was change. The company and the bus driver all apologised.�
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get off where his mother was waiting. The exact details are in dispute, but Mrs Hunt, in panic, called the school and the police, while the school called the bus line which – although safety procedures were implemented for just these reasons – “still didn’t see him on the bus�. “It took a lot of calls for them to realise he should be on the bus,� she said. “I thought he had been taken or gone walkabout. We were just lucky he was still on the bus.� It had eight children aboard that day. Continued Page 9
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The changes resulted in a review of procedures, roll checks, seat inspections by the driver and chaperone, and even placing signs on the dashboard saying the bus had been checked and was empty. But, on Wednesday 11 November, with the bus presumably running late, Mrs Hunt was again left wondering when Kaileb “went missing� during after-school drop off. Inadvertently, the driver sailed past the usual stop without realising one of his young passengers had expected to
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