CHILDREN who struggle with reading aloud at The Mead Community Primary School in Trowbridge are seeing drastic improvements thanks to regular visits from reading dog Archie.

Archie, a flat-coated retriever, has been helping to encourage children at the school to read aloud since September, working with a group of five children on a weekly basis by sitting quietly and listening to them.

Before coming to the school, Archie was assessed to ensure he was suitable to become a Pets As Therapy- registered dog. The Read2Dogs scheme is just one of the ways PAT dogs are used to support others in the community.

Following the success of Archie, who is 11 years old and owned by volunteer Jane Penny, the school is hoping to roll the scheme out to its other sites in the New Year at Castlemead and Wingfield.

Sam Phillips, reading recovery teacher at The Mead, said: “The children read to Archie on a one-to-one basis and when they do so, he does not criticise or correct their pronunciation. He just sits quietly and listens.

“We have seen a dramatic improvement in confidence of the children and their willingness to read since working with Archie, while their reading accuracy has also improved.

“Children can be nervous when reading to others in the group, whereas reading with a PAT dog is far less stressful and it means the child is less self-conscious. We have seen the children very quickly look forward to their reading experience.”

Mrs Phillips added children in Year 1, 2 and 5 have all made use of the Read2Dogs scheme, while both reception classes have read stories to Archie as a group since September.

She said: “It is something we are looking to take forward and grow next year now. We have seen improvements in reading from all the children involved and although some people probably thinks it sounds crazy, it does work. It’s remarkable the difference it makes and it’s great to see their confidence improve.”