Four-Legged Visitors in Assembly!

Our pupils were treated to a special visit ahead of this year’s English Greyhound Derby Final by two locally trained racing greyhounds.

We welcomed Pablo, aka Pablo The Pup, and Marco, Blackstone Marco, plus professional trainer Heather Dimmock and Shaun Reynolds of Towcester Racecourse, and children were given a basic introduction to the greyhound and its requirements and learnt about the three key stages of every racing greyhound’s life – in rearing, in training and in retirement.

They were also educated about the sport’s ground-breaking Injury Recovery Scheme and Greyhound Retirement Scheme which have been established so the sport can deliver a healthy, happy, life to all greyhounds on and off the track.

Pupils also watched a video which demonstrated how racing greyhounds live at home while in training and took part in a quiz to test their new knowledge of the sport. The session ended with an opportunity to get up close and personal to Pablo and Marco and take part in an open Q&A session.

We understand that greyhound racing is considered to be a controversial subject for some as with other local sports such as motor racing and horse racing, and we feel it’s important to explore both sides of the issues presented which have relevance for our local community, therefore some of our pupils asked further challenging questions about the welfare across a greyhound’s lifetime. It was a valuable experience to provoke critical thinking back in class with our pupils and they certainly really enjoyed meeting the greyhounds, Marco and Pablo who seemed very content!