School Therapy Dog
Welcome to our Therapy Dog's page
We would like to introduce you to our School Therapy Dogs. We are really excited and happy to have them in our School.
Our children will be able to benefit educationally and emotionally, increase their understanding of responsibility and develop empathy and nurturing skills through contact with a dog. It is for these reasons that we are delighted to formally introduce you and the children to our pups and hope the children can take great enjoyment from interactions with them.
The benefits of having dogs in schools are well documented and a recent study showed a reduction in stress levels in school children by comparing cortisol samples. The simple presence of a dog can have a positive impact on the well-being of pupils and staff, helping children who are feeling dysregulated or upset to feel calmer. Attendance and attainment have also been shown to improve and research has also found that children who are less confident readers, typically read more fluently to a dog as they don't anticipate being corrected.
We appreciate there is a risk in bringing a dog into a school environment and have put a robust risk assessment and policy in place that outlines how we will care for and manage our dogs and their activities in school. This can be viewed on our Policies page.