Principal Tony Gadd began bringing his family pet, a labradoodle, to school earlier this year to help engage the children and provide an alternative way to resolve issues in the classroom.

“Telarah is a big school. We’ve got preschool, early intervention unit, support classes, then over 400 kids in the main stream,” Mr Gadd said.

“We were just looking for something a bit different to support the kids and it’s been a really positive thing to do.

“The kids just love it. It’s about smiles on dials.”

After beginning by going to school a few times each week in term 2, Chilli, a 16-month-old female, now goes to work with Mr Gadd every day.

She spends time with students in the classroom and helps calm students when they become upset.

“If there’s a child upset about something that’s happened and they don’t want to talk, we use the dog to go in and they can interact with the dog for a little while and get themselves calm to a point where they are then ready to talk to us,” he said.

“It’s absolutely effective. They calm down much, much quicker and it’s just not confrontational.”

Year 2 student Ella Smith said she loved seeing Chilli at school each day.

“She helps us. She is soft and she helps us not get sad,” she said.

Mr Gadd said he had received a positive reaction from staff, parents and the Department of Education and Training when he suggested taking Chilli to school.

He said there had been no problems with the dog so far, who has regular obedience training, and the school would possibly have another dog become part of their community soon.