St. Peter’s dedicated the second half of 2018 to welcoming Lexi the Aussie Cobber dog as a permanent member of their learning community. Lexi started her school life very young and was familiarising herself with a Grade 2 classroom setting as young as 10 weeks old. Lexi spends her time supporting classes, individual students, and small groups of students working in different programs such as the Seasons for Growth Program. Lexi is familiar with the yard duty role, and she loves the chance to spend some recess and lunch time catching up with the adults in the staff room. Lexi is a school dog and spends her home life with St Peters teacher, Mel. She also spends the odd night/weekend with several other staff and their families.
Outcomes of the full-scale program include: improved connectedness and learning for students and staff, understanding of awareness, empathy, relationship between heart rate and emotional states, and how to practice regulation. Other results indicate an increase in engagement, attentiveness towards teachers, and a general calming effect for students and staff.