Flick - School Therapy Dog

Meet Flick - our four-legged Roach Vale friend. Flick is a smooth hiared, brown and tan daschshund who attends schools most days to support our school community and bring a little pawesomeness to school. 

Research has shown many benefits to having dogs and animals in school settings. Roach Vale Primary School has introduced a school therapy dog as part of the wellbeing provision of the school. This policy is designed to set out to pupils, parents, staff and visitors the reasons for having a school therapy dog and the risk assessments carried out to ensure this provision is safe for all. Although there are risks to introducing animals to any educational setting, these risks can be mitigated through robust risk assessment.

Children can benefit educationally and emotionally, increase their understanding of responsibility and develop empathy and nurturing skills through contact with a dog. In addition to these benefits, many children take great enjoyment from interactions with a dog. Our school therapy dog, Flick, has been a school dog since she was 8 weeks old and during her five years of service she has supported children with reading, behaviour, school attendance and emotional wellbeing.

Therapy Dog Certification

Flick  has completed the Paws Therapy Dogs course and passed her final assessment, achieving her certification as a therapy dog. The Paws course involved extensive online learning for her handler, Miss Denyer, and many hours of training to learn key behaviours. 

For more information about the work Flick does in school and how we manage the presence of a therapy dog, please click the image below.