PASSMORES Academy invited the Guide Dogs Society to talk to their Year 8 students recently, about what it is like being a Guide Dog puppy trainer and what positive impact that this has on those who are blind or partially sighted. There was also an interactive Guide Dog demonstration on the school field from the National Guide Training Centre in which blind folded students had the opportunity to lead Guide Dogs around a series of obstacles.

Indoors, students had the opportunity to explore the effects of different sight-related illnesses as well as design and present their own Guide Dog campaigns.

To round the day off some students baked human ‘dog biscuits’ for a break time cake sale and the money raised also went to the Guide Dogs charity. One Year 8 student, Leon, said “It was a really good day. I learnt a lot about which dogs are easier to train for the visually impaired and that my own dog would make a good service dog but not a good guide dog”. All the students had a fantastic day of building awareness of Guide Dogs and the fabulous job that they do every day.