Dear all

We are very excited to share that Nellie, Miss McHugh's puppy, is soon to be welcomed into our OMS community as a Therapy Dog!

Therapy dogs bring a range of positives to educational settings, these include:

It is due to such reasons that we are thrilled to announce that from December 2025, Nellie will be in school full time, working with pupils and supporting them throughout their journey in school, in a number of different ways.

Nellie will be 8 weeks old on Monday the 2nd June 2025; from this point on, she will begin 6 months of basic training with a local 5 star licensed breeder, Wiggle Waggle. During this 6 month period, she will also spend time with Miss McHugh and be in school for short bursts of time, to familiarise herself with the environment and pupils. Miss McHugh has commenced the 12 month training for Nellie to be accredited as a Therapy Dog; this is with a company called PAWS. This will run alongside the basic training with Wiggle Waggle and Nellie will complete an assessment at the end of the 12 month period to gain official accreditation.

As a school, we opted for the training above to ensure Nellie is highly trained and fit to work with our pupils and staff. The training totals £4,500 and we are reaching out to the community in order to raise funds to support towards the costs of the two training programmes.

We will be completing various fundraising activities in school, such as a 'Nellie day' next half term, where the children will take part in a range of activities, including designing a neckerchief for Nellie and baking cakes to sell. We will ask for small donations via MCAS as usual and will upload the funds raised to this page so you can see the progress.

We would love if, as a community, families could get involved in fundraising opportunities. We have some very talented and independent young people within our community, who we know love a challenge and we are asking you all to please be creative and help us reach our £4,500 goal by September 2025. The young people of OMS and our community are critical thinkers so we know you won't need much support, but ideas for fundraising may include: a sponsored walk or run, a read-a-thon, car washing or a quiz night. We would love to see our families working together in the community to promote this event but we are also keen to work with the children to host additional fundraising events in school; please speak to Miss McHugh or any member of SLT about this.

We are thrilled to be developing our provision further by welcoming Nellie into our community and we can't wait to see the positive impact she will have.

As always, we are grateful for your support and dedication. If you have any queries, please contact the school office to discuss further.

Many thanks

Sarah McHugh

Assistant Headteacher and SENDCo

Ovingham Middle School