Most Staff Development days are a bit dull and usually could be done in an hour or an email!! So we didn't have high hopes of our planned morning with our cluster schools on ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and Resilience. But I had a lovely catch up with my old colleagues and met some of the support staff I haven't seen for 3 years. They said they still missed me! 😊
Our afternoon activity was a learning walk around the local area to explore possible outdoor learning opportunities. Over lunch our headteacher said if anyone was able to bring their dog on the walk that would be ok. As I live a 5 min drive from the school I nipped home to get Emma!
So a Labrador, a Spaniel and a Beagle all came to school and behaved beautifully. There was coffee and cake in the library afterwards and all 3 dogs just laid down and slept!!
Here is Emma now!! 😂
Everyone loved having the dogs in school and we're talking seriously about how we could use dogs as therapy to help some kids. So it was a rare useful and enjoyable Staff Development Day for a change!
And now I'm officially on holiday!
Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :-)
DeleteA teacher I worked with in a behaviour class brought his dog to school every day. He was a black lab. Probably the most amazing dogs I've ever seen. Because the teacher had worked on a native reserve at one time all the dogs commands were in the native language, so he only took direction from the teacher. The kids loved the dog and he was a great asset to us in helping the kids calm down when a melt down was imminent. In another school I worked in the science teacher was very involved in Greyhound rescues. He owned four of them himself and often brought them to school. They were the most docile, couch potato, friendly dogs and again the kids loved them. Enjoy your holiday and remember to take some 'me' time!
ReplyDeleteThere's loads of research supporting dogs in school (eg reading attainment levels raised when children read to dogs!) so fingers crossed something happens.
DeleteI've got the dentist tonight. Does that count as 'me' time? Lol!!