Introducing Professor Higgins, our esteemed Dog Mentor at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls and Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys

Professor Higgins is our friendly school dog. He became part of the Poly family as our Dog Mentor in 2022 at the tender age of 6 months old.

In order to gain this title, like any student, he had to sit an exam to ensure he had the right temperament for school life, which included testing his skills such as patience, positivity and teamwork.

Higgins specialises in working with students to reduce anxiety, to encourage social skills as well as helping students who are at the early stages of grasping the English Language. He is also very good at helping students understand the body language of dogs. This is useful when working with students to overcome their fear of dogs as this allows them to feel confident when out in public, including our Royal Borough’s green spaces.

Higgins has a variety of hobbies, beyond the school gates, ranging from swimming (in any body of water, particularly in muddy streams) and even modelling!

Professor Higgins works on a voluntary basis. Like any member of staff, our Professor has his own timetable. This means he avoids the corridors at change of lessons as well as the playground at break and lunchtime.

The safeguarding and wellbeing of our students and staff come first in our Poly family - this includes the wellbeing of Professor Higgins. For this reason, our school community follow these guidelines:

• Keeping our voices soft and calm (to stop him worrying that we are upset)
• Asking before stroking him (he might be on his way to a lesson and won’t want to be late!)
• Picking up any food that we may drop on the floor in the dining hall or playground (some human food can make him ill)

We believe Professor Higgins is the ‘paw-fect’ Dog Mentor 🐕 💙