Meet our Pets
The five freedoms that apply to any living creature in our care:
- Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition: give ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
- Freedom from discomfort: provide a suitable environment, including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease: ensure prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
- Freedom to express normal behaviour: provide sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
- Freedom from fear and distress: ensure conditions avoid mental suffering.
Having pets encourages children to have shared ownership over the care and attention given to another living creature, which teaches them how to respect and treat animals and in turn this passes over to interactions with humans. It engages them to respond to something other than their own their needs as the creature is dependent upon them for food, warmth, exercise, safety etc. This is often something the children may have not been exposed to thinking about before.
Children often talk, with pets, or about the pets promoting communication and language skills, children will also often draw pictures, paintings of the pets in the setting. Children sometime use pets as alter egos who they can play and talk with using their imaginative skills, which can solve problems or issues they may be experiencing.
At St Peter's we have school pets because we believe that they:
Enrich the classroom experience
- Observing and caring for an animal instills a sense of responsibility and respect for life.
- A pet brings increased sensitivity and awareness of the feelings and needs of others-both animals and humans.
- Children learn that all living things need more than just food and water for survival.
- Studies show that the presence of animals tends to lessen tension in the classroom.
Have a positive impact on children's health, education and welfare
- Caring for pets in the classroom is one way of improving school attendance and teaching children about responsibility.
Encourage nurturing
- Nobody enjoys being treated roughly. Children soon learn that if they want to be liked and trusted by an animal, they will need to treat them carefully and kindly.
Build self esteem
- Helping to take care of a pet gives a child a sense of pride and accomplishment, especially if the animal is able to return the affection. .
Teach responsibility
- Even a small child can begin to learn to care for the needs of another living being. Whether it is gathering eggs from the chicken hutch or filling the guinea pigs’ water bottle, it is never too early to start teaching children proper animal care.
Become friends
- Lots of animals such as cats, dogs and guinea pigs love human contact. Children can even develop strong human animal bonds with non-responsive animals such as fish or turtles.
- These relationships help to strengthen a child’s social skills, giving them the potential to do better in a school setting.
At St Peter's we aim to promote good practice in animal care. Sensible measures are taken to reduce the risk of infection to the children and to staff.
Children are taught how to interact gently with our school pets. They are taught correct procedures in handling and caring for animals under the direct supervision of adults; they are also encouraged to take a shared responsibility for the care of the animals, under direct supervision.
For more information about our school pets please read the Animals in School Policy below.