Orange Public School Year 4 teacher Anthony Kay said he was surprised to be named as a finalist for the Premier’s Individual Excellence and Achievement Award and felt honoured simply to be nominated.

“I presumed that would be it, it was honour enough and then I was very, very surprised to get this,” he said.

Mr Kay has been teaching for 12 years and was nominated for the award by the mother of a child with Asperger’s, who he taught in year six last year and benefited from Mr Kay’s specialist training.

“I had a boy in my class that had Asperger’s and, with other teachers in the school, I got specialist training for working with children with Asperger’s to support their learning, and I was able to apply some of those principles with him,” Mr Kay said.

He said that particular student was mature and intelligent enough to work with him in developing strategies that he would be able to use throughout his life. The lessons will also be helpful for Mr Kay in the future.

“In every class there’s at least one or two children with Asperger’s or Asperger’s traits,” he said.

“They can be tricky kids and part of managing them is not putting them in a stressful environment.”

The principles Mr Kay focused on included routine, having no surprises and letting the student know what was coming up, as well as building rapport and relationships.

Because the principles applied to what he considered “good teaching” Mr Kay said his training also worked with children without the syndrome.

“I still use a lot of them now,” he said.

Belmont Local Court deputy registrar Catherine Piper was announced as the award winner on Monday, October 13.

tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au