Children can benefit in many different ways through having contact and interactions with a dog. Therapy dogs are used to react and respond to people and their environment under the guidance of their owner. Research has shown that having a therapy dog in school can ‘help to reduce student anxiety, stress and contributes to good attendance’. They can provide educational and emotional support for pupils and staff and have been proven to have many benefits in the school environment.
These include:
- Teaching empathy and appropriate interpersonal skills
- Develop communication and social skills
- Raise confidence, E.g. ‘hearing’ children read
- Give children a sense of responsibility
- Provide calm in moments of stress and anxiety
- Increased/improved attendance
- Increased motivation to learn
- Enhanced relationships with peers and staff through the experience of receiving unconditional love from a dog
Access to Fraser will be carefully managed and supervised and children will not need to have contact unless they wish to. We hope to work closely with parents of children with a fear of dogs to allow opportunities for them to build up a trusting relationship and eventually alleviate their fear and to teach them how to manage this.
If any parents or carers wish to discuss any aspect of our school dog, please contact Mrs Dodds on 01325 300324
