Pets in school
Discuss
Is a school a suitable place to keep a pet?
Find out
How could we ensure that all the needs of a school pet are met?
- What do all animals need?
- Can these needs be met?
- Who would look after the pet at weekends and during holidays?
- Who would take the pet to the vet and pay for his/her treatment?
- What does the law require? (see information on the Animal Welfare Act)
- What does the RSPCA recommend?
- What are the health and safety issues for the pupils and animal carers?
- What are the alternatives, e.g. sponsoring a ‘wild’ animal or sponsoring a dog kennel/cat pen/rabbit run in an RSPCA animal centre? (available at selected centres – see the in your area section of our website)
Take action
Present your findings to the school
- What recommendations will we make?
- How will we organise sharing this information?
- How will pupils and staff feed back their views?
- Do we need to seek permission for some of our ideas, e.g. speaking at year group assemblies?
Review
What do we do next?
- What was the response to our recommendations?
- How will we take this forward?
- Are we confident that the way forward is in the best interests of animal welfare?
Download a PDF information sheet of these ideas from the Information sheets tab at the top right of the page.
