Health and Wellbeing
Introducing a School Dog
Get a school dog right first time, with advice on choosing the dog, writing the policy and showing governors it's working.
- 1 hour 16 minutes
- 7 modules
- 1.5 CPD hours
- Certificate
Members
14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Decide what you want a school dog to do for your pupils and staff
- Choose a dog whose temperament, size and coat suit your school
- Plan ownership, costs, downtime and supervision before the dog arrives
- Write a school dog policy and risk assessment, and sort out insurance
- Use the dog for rewards, reading and calming, and show governors the impact
About this course
A dog in school can calm a child in the middle of a meltdown, get a reluctant reader reading aloud and cheer up the staffroom. Get it wrong, though, and you probably won't get a second chance.
The teacher behind it brought her own puppy into a special school and has since written about it. She's honest about her mistakes (staff will spoil your dog if you let them). She's practical about everything else: puppy or adult dog, allergies, who pays the vet's bills, the quiet space and responsible adult the dog needs, and what goes in your policy, risk assessment and insurance.
Her stories are what you'll remember. A girl who couldn't face the Christmas concert walked in to "help" the nervous dog, and a six-year-old who hated her walking frame took step after step down the corridor to follow him.
- For governors. All phases.
7 modules
Open in order
- 12 min
Why have a school dog?
- 11 min
The need for research
- 10 min
Practicalities and finances
- 14 min
Dog policy, risk assessment and insurance
- 11 min
Achieving success
- 12 min
More success stories and learning from my mistakes
- 9 min
Showing Impact