Further to the demise of her last rat, Granddaughter Number One has taken to sending us photos of her Welsh border collie curled up in small spaces, under a desk, on a shelf beneath the tortoise enclosure, making a nest of cushions of the sofa. (Note to self: try to avoid sitting on that sofa where the dog has been curling up!) Her mother has responded by suggesting that maybe the dog misses the rat! It’s possible, says Granddaughter Number One, after all, they were friends.to which her mother responds that she (the dog) probably thought they were friends, buy the rat may have had other ideas! My daughter should not encourage her daughter to attribute human characteristics to her pets. Next thing we know, she’ll be buying more fancy rats!
And now my daughter has posted this:
“🛑 WANTED: Teachers who have a dog!
We need your help.
You’ll have seen on the news - and you'll have seen first hand in your classrooms and corridors - that there is a huge crisis in school attendance since the pandemic. Persistent non-attendance is still DOUBLE the pre-pandemic rate.
Which child in your class or year group comes to mind when you read that, who you know is finding it hard to attend, to stay in class, to behave calmly?
Children are struggling.
And as a teacher, you know the huge effect this can have on both their short and long term happiness and outcomes.
The good news is that we can help.
Therapy dogs are proven to improve attendance, lower stress, reduce anxiety and improve self esteem.
But - and here’s where you come in - we need more dogs to be trained, to be able to help the young people who need them.
We’re looking for Teachers who want to introduce their dogs into school, to deliver extraordinary and life-changing animal-assisted interventions.
At PAWS we witness incredible life-changing moments that are supported by our therapy dog team, but we can’t do it on our own.
To see if you and your dog have got what it takes for this special work, check out the short vid here:
👉 https://paws-therapydogs.com/ 👈
You taking this simple step today could impact your students for the rest of their lives… including the child who came to mind when you read this.”
Hmm! The sceptic in me wonders about the children who are scared stiff of dogs. But maybe having a therapy dog would help them get over the fear.
In the wider world, it seems that Kier Starmer wants to strike a deal with the European Union in order to stop small boats crossing the Channel. Of course, he needs to get elected first of all. Some people are saying that if he really wants to be elected he needs to let Jeremy Corbyn back into the Labour Party fold as he will be able to reach those voters Starmer can’t seem to attract.wekll see where that goes.
And I hear that Good Morning Britain asked if proposed cooperation with the EU meant that Kier Starmer was weakening his stance of EU withdrawal. No way! seems to be the answer. We’ll just tinker around making agreements with he Eu that won‘t be as good as what we had before. One of those being a deal,about sending boat people back to France.
But back in February Professor Thom Brooks published a report on the small boat phenomenon, concluding that the the primary factor behind the current problem” is the government’s post-Brexit deal, and specifically its failure to reach a “returns agreement with the EU”, whereby unauthorised migrants to the UK could be returned to the first safe EU country they had entered. People traffickers spotted the opportunity almost immediately, offering to take people to a country, Britain, from where they could no longer be sent back. Staggeringly, Brooks found “no records of any individuals travelling by small boat to claim asylum in 2017 or before” – not one case. But as “the UK prepared to leave its returns agreement, small boat journeys started”. And the people making those journeys grew in number, from the low hundreds in 2018 to tens of thousands in 2023.
There you go - a Brexit “benefit”!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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