School Dog

We would like to introduce you to Maggie.

Maggie

 

 

Maggie is a two and a half year old yellow Labrador, who loves food and running through long grass and water. We are very excited to welcome Maggie to Raynsford School where at first she will familiarise herself with our school environment. 

When she is feeling comfortable she will then be invited to spend time with the children. She will listen to children read and support children's emotional well-being. She has received lots of training to prepare her for life in the school.

School dogs have increased in popularity in the UK over the past 6 years, with many schools listing the numerous benefits they feel their four-legged members of staff has on their entire school community. It seems that Ofsted are observing the benefits of this too! In 2019, research showed 12 Ofsted reports had ‘praised schools for using therapy dogs’. 

 The benefits of a school dog

• Dogs can help children develop empathy skills, encourage them to act respectfully and improve relationships between children
• Reading to a dog can be beneficial for all readers. There is less pressure and less perceived judgement when reading to a dog 
• An improvement in reading accuracy
• improved oral reading fluency
• better comprehension
• more positive attitudes towards reading 
• improved behaviours toward reading
• Dogs can have a calming effect on children
• They can help children develop emotional literacy 
• Dogs can encourage children who are typically more withdrawn, to engage with and participate in school life
• They can help children to regulate their own behaviour
• Dogs can reduce stress and improve wellbeing for both children and staff 
• They can improve self-esteem for children

Maggie lives in my family home with my two young children and is used to being around children of all ages. She is loving and caring and at times very funny (Labrador zoomies). She will be joining us at Raynsford very soon and we are extremely excited about Maggie becoming the newest member of the Raynsford family and know the children will be to.

• Every school ‘needs dog as stress-buster’, BBC, March 2019

 

Raynsford Academy Dog Risk Assessment