YEAR 11 students and staff at Sir Thomas Boteler CofE High School have been de-stressing ahead of the exam period – by petting dogs.
Following some research into how it can help people de-stress and successful events for the Class of 2016 and 2017, Mr Paul McAleese decided to repeat it for the Class of 2018.
Many educational establishments have been arranging for students to pet puppies and some even creating ‘Puppy rooms’ before their finals in Universities such as Bristol, Sheffield and Loughborough. This has also been taking place in other countries such as the USA.
Mr McAleese said: “My reading prompted me to contact Cheshire Dogs’ home’ and they proved that I wasn’t barking mad, as they had just been to Manchester University to help final year students de-stress before their Physics and Astronomy exam.
“As a result of the research and the use of this strategy by some Russell Group Universities, they visited us again on the morning of GCSE English Language on Tuesday 5th June. The pictures show some of our students relaxing with the dogs before such an important exam.
“Cheshire Dogs’ Home do not use current dogs in their kennels for these events, and instead use ex-resident dogs that do a lot of events for them as they are very used to being stroked.
“Our students have been working really hard and many attended Easter school in addition to the innumerable after-school revision sessions.
“We have even had students voluntarily attend Sunday revision to prepare for Maths, English and RE so every little bit helps!
“This well-being event helped relax many students and staff before this exam.
“Many staff and students contributed to a hamper of dog food and treats as a gesture of thanks.
“Any donations are more than welcome to the dogs’ home or in the collection box in school.”
