School Dog Gets Promotion and launches new initiatives
October 4, 2023
Lily the school dog from Peterhouse Church of England Primary School in Gorleston has been promoted to The Ark Federation School Dog as she now shares her time between the two schools, Peterhouse and Moorlands Church of England Primary School in Belton .
Coinciding with her promotion, Lily has also launched two new important initiatives.
The School Dog Blog – http://www.theark.dneat.org/school-dog/. ‘Lily’ writes a blog post after each visit to let the families know what she has been up to. As she finds typing tricky, she is currently searching for Year 5 and 6 co-writers in each school.
‘Paw’fect Work – Lily has splashed out (her own money of course) on some personalised stickers. Class teachers will be sending children to show Lily their best work in exchange for a sticker and a photograph of their work featuring in the blog post for that day.
Since the beginning of the new term, Lily the three-year-old Cockapoo has begun visits to Moorlands for short periods of time to get used to the children, staff and surroundings and has settled in well to her new role.
Ryan Freeman, Executive Headteacher of The Ark Federation said: “Lily is an important member of our school team. The staff love having Lily in school, we get people coming down throughout the day to see her or offer to take her for a walk. She is definitely a good aide for well-being.”
Mr Freeman added: “We have a high number of vulnerable children and Lily has proved to be a fantastic way to break down barriers. She has helped school refusers to get into the building, withdrawn children to smile and talk, and helps to calm children at times when they have become disregulated. She is also very popular with some of our parents, who come to see her on the school gate in the mornings.
We have wanted to introduce Lily into Moorlands Primary Academy for a while, but we have taken it slowly to make sure that she is ready. Lily is our family pet and was bought with the fact that she may become a school dog in mind. We looked carefully at breeders and temperaments, making sure that she had the best chance possible of being calm and loving with children and adults. Being allergic to most breeds of dog myself, we were also conscious of the ‘hypoallergenic’ qualities that cockapoos have. Lily has been attending training classes since she was a few months old and still goes weekly to ensure that she is calm and responsive to commands. Once she had completed her first bronze award, she began making short visits to school to get used to the people and environment. This was built up over a few months and then gradually we have introduced her to more elements of the school day.”
Mr Freeman added: “It is wonderful to have Lily working across both of our federated schools. We are working on joint initiatives more and more, and this is the latest benefit of being federated. Lily loves being in both schools and is totally at home. She can often be found curled up asleep under a desk or visiting office staff for a little affection. During the day, Lily meets children as part of the school’s pastoral provision. They take her for walks, complete training activities, or simply come for a cuddle. Lily does not visit classrooms, as we are very careful that children with allergies are able to move around the school without any limits being imposed on them, but she is a prominent member of the Federation family all the same.”