Newton school introduces wellbeing dog to support pupils' mental health

Hope Academy will host sessions every Friday for pupils to spend time with the dog and share how they feel.

The sessions are an additional mental health service that the secondary school offers.

Amy Green, Assistant Principal and Senior Mental Health Leader at Hope Academy, said: "Over the last few years we’ve been working really hard on supporting our children and obviously it’s been a challenging time for a lot of students.

"This is just adding another layer really around what care and support we have at Hope.

"We’ve got a new vision at Hope Academy which is about serving others through love and we just felt that it is a really nice way of doing it; some pupils really like animals and it’s a nice way to connect and open up."

Pippa is one of the wellbeing dogs to attend sessions (Image: Hope Academy)

The school also works closely with other organisations, including mental wellbeing charity Barnardo’s, with a resilience team visiting the school three times a week to offer one-to-one sessions.

A full-time councillor is also on site for pupils to talk to.

Amy added: "It’s just a fantastic package of support for our children. We’re really keen to improve the mental health and wellbeing of our young people but also our parents, families, staff, and coming together as a community.

"I think it’s massively important, as we’re seeing a high rise in anxiety, and we’ve got to build the resilience of our students again.

"We have some fantastic staff who give up a lot of time talking to our young people about resilience, self-confidence, and self-belief.

"The last few years have affected our students quite dramatically and we have got a responsibility and duty to talk to them about that."

The school recently held a wellbeing festival in July which saw other schools and organisations attending to share their methods of supporting young people’s mental health.