Rosie is our New Town Family dog.

She is a small Jack Russell cross who loves people and will do fun tricks for a treat. She loves balloons, squeaky toys and food! 

Parents and carers are asked to give consent for their children to work with Rosie when they enrol in the school so she can wander around the school and playground, with her adult, for the children to meet and pet without being a surprise. When Rosie comes to school, she can be found on the playground at the start and end of the day, so do come and give her a pat. During the day, she supports children who need some quiet time, gives children exciting movement breaks and sleeps in the Skylight Room.

There are many benefits to having an animal in school, some are:

• A greater enjoyment of being in the school environment, improved attendance and a greater willingness to learn and participate.

• Improved behaviour, social interaction and sense of responsibility in the classroom.

• More effective therapy sessions. Pupils also achieve more complex goals when a school dog joins their sessions.

• Increased knowledge of dogs and how to behave safely and appropriately around them.

• They gain a better understanding of how to take responsibility for another living being. This, potentially, gives them better recognition of their own responsibilities.

• Improvements in the way students interact with each other and with members of staff. The exciting part of this is that these effects extend into the home environment for some students. 

As a school we have risk assessed the presence of having a dog on site and staff members agree with the positive outcomes that can be gained from an animal’s presence.

Not all children want to be with Rosie and we respect that. We teach the children to ask before they touch her and are taught to say ‘no thank you’ if they don’t want to. Rosie does not enter classrooms, so no child, or adult, is put in an uncomfortable situation.

Rosie comes to school about once a week and children are invited to come and work with her in small groups or pairs. If your child shows a particular interest, please do let us know and we will find a time for them to come and see her.