Teacher’s dogs in classroom?

Reception classes of up to 30 4 year olds can be feral! I don’t understand how the Teacher can suitably supervise not only one but 2 dogs with a class of foundation kids! 🤷‍♀️

Nope, I’d be getting on to the school 1st thing and insisting my child was moved to a different class. Not asking BTW.

id also made clear that I was unhappy this was only mentioned at this stage and not at any time when I was making choices about the school.

my biggest concern is that she’s planning on bringing a 2nd dog, the 1st might be older. Unbothered and used to the chaos that a reception class can be at times.
the 2nd one won’t be and by her own admission, she HOPES it’s ok.

the 2nd one may not adjust well and could then set the 1st one off.

plus who in their right mind thinks two dogs is ideal in a classrom
of 4 year olds.

I agree with your concerns over this. Can you raise a general query to the HT about the practice and then specifically ask for your son to be transferred to one of the other classes?

My son is at an infant school where one of the teachers has a Labrador that she beings into classes.

But-here’s the approach the school took

-emailed all parents before this happened introducing the dog and letting us know it was being trained as a therapy dog.

-shared all risk assessments and insurance documents and gave parents a countdown to when dog was coming in

-added a consent option online for parents to check off if they were happy for their children to interact with the dog and if there were allergies

-confirmed the dog wouldn’t be roaming the school nor in classrooms unless for specific teaching moments or as class rewards

-had a school assembly introducing the dog to the classes and what the purpose was of having the dog there

-shared days on school calendar of when the dog was in the school

I have a dog and I wouldn’t be happy with a teacher so casually dropping it into conversation-it sounds like she simply can’t be bothered to get a dog walker in.

You absolutely wouldn’t be ‘that parent’ for making some enquiries.

If done in the right way, it can be a great thing but this doesn’t sound like it’s being properly monitored

Rather than being so negative and suspicious about this how about treating it as a great opportunity for your child? Anxiety is catching, taught even. Trust the teacher to have checked for allergies and keep her small dogs under supervision!. Learning to respect and care for animals both pets and wild is vital, I feel, for development.

My primary teacher regularly brought her huge, gorgeous golden retriever into our classroom where he would doze at her feet. Then enjoy us taking turn to help her take him for walks round the school field.

This is insane and I say that as a dog lover. Any dogs in schools should be trained therapy dogs (or medical ones). Not just random pets chilling in a classroom. Sausage dogs are not even the most relaxed of breeds anyway! I would absolutely ask to see the risk assessment for this. And then I would take it further and say I’m not happy for my child to be in the same class as 2 untrained dogs, one who hasn’t even been around that many small children before. It’s a recipe for disaster and would really concern me that the school are extremely lax to just be letting it happen

No, just no. Snappy dogs (dachshunds are notorious for barking and being nervous) and classroom full of small children is just wrong. If the owner cannot see that I would be concerned for the dogs.

I have a large breed easy going dog who loves the little grandchildren, but not in a million years would I expect to see an untrained dog in a primary school classroom, let alone two of them.

I’d be kicking up a huge stink about this as it’s reckless at best. How will they deal with it (minimise) when the dog inevitably bites a lively child? Is the Head happy to risk losing their job over it?

@Sunnyday14558 the best thing for you to do is speak to the teacher about your concerns before the summer holidays.

A school dog isn’t that unusual and can be very helpful for anxious kids etc. every school our kids went to had one to some degree.
if you’re scared of dogs will be a good way to make sure your fears aren’t past to your child.

I think on the one hand this is a great opportunity for your child not to grow up being anxious around dogs like you are OP.

On the other hand Dachshund's can be yappy, snappy anxious little things themselves not least because there's a lot of poor breeding and puppy farming happening with the breed due to their popularity.

Great ... take it out to shit on the playground!

Definitely raise your concerns by email to the HT, further information below:

https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/health-safety/dogs-on-school-sites.html

https://www.nationalschooldogalliance.co.uk/best-practice-guidelines/

Dachshunds are also notoriously stubborn dogs, difficult to toilet train so the infection risk surely also has to be taken into consideration? They can also be very territorial, is it possible the class teacher has stated she needs a support dog?

Absolutely bizarre that a teacher is looking after her two dogs, alongside well teaching 30 4/5 year olds. Unless it's a one off learning opportunity, YANBU.

I think you need to wait and see what it’s like. Presumably she has permission. Maybe the dog just sleeps most of the time. As a dog owner and teacher it’s not a liability I’d want. My dog is not a school resource. But there are studies on the benefits of having a dog in the classroom.

It's not unheard of for a staff member to bring their dog into school. The school I previously worked at, the head of the Trust, used to bring her dog to school. The difference being, the dog stayed in her office the majority of the time.

However, this is a class teacher, who is there to teach the children, not to supervise 2 dogs!! Are these dogs coming into school every day? Or is this an occasional visit? Is it a new thing for this teacher to be bringing her dogs into school? I understand teaching children how to look after animals, how to stroke them etc, it's all positive....but should this be on a daily basis. What if a child is allergic? Or a family member is at home, it's easy to pick up dog hairs, and transport them home?

You could ask more questions. Are the dogs insured to be on the premises? Has a risk assessment been done? How will the dogs be supervised in class, if the teacher is teaching?!! None of which are invalid questions.

I think mostly parents should let teachers get on with things, but this would be a hard refusal for me and I would have no interest in 'working something out' that involves my child with two dogs in the permanent background by definition insufficiently supervised.

She is taking the piss completely.

Not normal, a) allergies b) potential for kids to pester or dog to bite and c) teacher distracted from teaching by dogs needs.

One of my teachers in primary school used to bring her Scottie dog - it would sit under her desk in lessons and sleep and she’d walk it round the playground at breaks.

Sounds like the teacher is too tight to pay for someone to train her animal to be left, or to go to a dog sitter.

Completely inappropriate.

Trained dogs for specific activities or support needs - yes
Risk assessed visits (by a teacher’s dog or other) for a planned activity - yes

Teacher’s own dog hanging out in a classroom full of 4yo - no way

Where is the risk assessment? What is the ofsted view about having the teacher not fully able to focus on her 30 children? Who is supervising the children when the dogs are (presumably) taken out to toilet?

This country needs to get a grip.

My family member teaches in a school where the head of governors kept coming in with his sausage dog - it bit the PE teacher and he needed stitches! Next day, sausage dog at school. This sounds like such a lie but I swear it isn’t!

But, again, do you think the school never considered this with their health and safety, insurance etc?

Insurance generally covers negligence or fault, so unless the policy specifically excludes it, it would be covered… However, as I wrote before, insurance is a red herring here….

If a child is at risk of a serious injury that would trigger a claim, having insurance claim doesn’t suddenly make that risk acceptable….

Does anyone seriously say to themselves, “there’s a risk that my child might get attacked by a dog, but as long as there’s insurance in place to ensure I get a pay out if my child gets attacked, I’m ok with my child being exposed to that risk.”? Of course not, or at least, I hope not!

And someone with the blaze attitude that some posters have on here could easily contrive a risk assessment that deems the risk to be acceptable.

Quite.

I am really surprised that school health and safety policies allow this.

Apart from.the obvious safety risks of the dogs turning on a child and biting, or defecating or weeing in the classroom, and allergies and phobias I just cant understand how the distraction of having dogs in the classroom is good for children's academic learning.

It all seems part of the increasing attitude in society that dogs are more important than people. And allowing dogs in thf classroom is just teaching the children that dogs have a right to be anywhere and every where.