St Josephs Primary School, Cobram

St. Joseph’s Primary School has a current population of 300 students and 40 staff in North East Victoria.

The school invested in Dogs Connect Full Scale program with the amazing Labrador, Banjo, in 2017.

Over 2 terms Banjo was integrated into the schools teaching and learning practices.

Outcomes include; Improved engagement and connectedness. Increase in school attendance, engagement, attentiveness towards teachers, and an overall improvement in the schools culture.

The positive impact the full-scale program has resulted in the school’s leaders looking into bringing a second dog into their community to support Banjo and to ensure that the connections continue to deepen.

“I’d definitely recommend Dogs Connect to any school. The program has made a huge impact on the wellbeing for not only our students but for the staff also”.
Lucy Keath, Principal St Joseph’s Primary School, Cobram.

“My students are a lot more aware of what other people’s emotions are…my students pick up on my body language really well now.” Lauren Ross, St Josephs Primary School, Cobram.

Since the inception of the program in 2015 the data gathered shows;

• A significant decrease in anxiety and stress
• Improvement in school attendance
• Substantial increase in students understanding of empathy, relationship between heart rate and emotional states
• Stronger understanding and ability to practice self-regulation
• Increase in engagement, attentiveness towards teachers, and general calming effect for students and staff.

Quantitative data will be available at the end of 2018.