Lachie Dearing, a member of children’s music group Hi-5, hasn’t forgotten the people who have helped him along the way.
Which is why the group turned up on Wednesday at the Fauna Place Early Education Centre in Kirrawee to put on a special performance and then spend time individually with the kids and parents.
Lisa Preston, the director of the Sutherland Shire Council operated centre, taught Lachie at Allison Crescent Early Education Centre, Menai, when he was three and four.
Ms Preston said Lachie asked his mother to find out at which centre she was working at now, and see whether she would like a visit from the group.
“I was overwhelmed, but Lachie likes to pay back those who have helped him along the way,” she said.
Ms Preston said she had followed his singing and dancing career as it developed, and had taken her children to see some shows in which he appeared.
“It has been wonderful to see the success he has had,” she said.
“He was only three or four when I taught him, and I also taught his sister Breanna.
“My family and friends think I probably taught him some of his dance steps.
“I don’t know about that, but I have a photo of him in a group of children with his arms up in the air, so I think he was showing us back then that he wanted to dance.”
Ms Preston, who has worked in shire council early education centres for 20 years, said, “It has been one of my interests to see how the children I have taught go on to achieve success”.
”One of the important parts of my work is getting to know the families of the children,” she said.
The 2017 Hi-5 cast of Bailey, Courtney, Joe, Shay and Lachie were chosen after nearly 500 auditions by hopefuls.
Lachie gives his home town as Cronulla.