Look who came to visit us!

Today Bernie the dog came to visit Key Stage 2. The children were very excited to meet her and they were all very sensible.

Bernie belongs to The Hub at Bower Park Academy. She is a cockapoo who is Bower Parks School Dog.

There has been a lot of research done around the impact of this on children. Other schools who have already adopted a school dog have reported that they work well with children with special needs, test stress, anxiety, those who suffer bereavement or who are upset in anyway and in need of calm. There is also evidence from the ‘Bark and Read’ project that within 6 weeks 60 per cent of the children taking part improved their reading age by more than 3 months.

Bower Park have asked us if we would like Bernie to visit on a weekly basis. She is a special dog who is very used to working with large groups of children. A full risk assessment has been undertaken and obviously the scheme will be voluntary and children who do not wish to have contact with the dog will have no need to.

Please let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to welcoming Bernie again very soon!