Sponsor our support animals with a £3 monthly donation

Coco and Snowball the rabbits

The benefits for our students of having Snowball and Coco on the Animal Assisted Intervention team are proving to be wide-ranging. These gentle animals can have a calming effect on students, helping to reduce stress and anxiety while promoting mental health and emotional regulation and wellbeing. Interacting with rabbits encourages empathy, compassion, and responsibility, as students take turns feeding, cleaning, and caring for their furry friends. Rabbits also support learning, offering hands-on work experiences contributing to an animal care qualification understanding animal behaviour and nature. This inspires engagement in core subjects such as writing, storytelling, maths and critical thinking. With their quiet nature and care requirements, rabbits are an inclusive and accessible way to enhance both the educational environment and the social-emotional development of our young learners.

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Veg - £9.50
• Insurance - £34.50
• Nail trips - £25
• Equipment ie. Tunnels, toys, travel case, health - £5

Pepper and Pandora the guinea pigs

Pandora and Pepper are trained guinea pigs which have a calming effect on the student which helps them release endorphins and reduces stress, so the AAI practitioner and the guinea pigs are able to work on the student's Emotion Recognition and Communication. They also help with mental health and wellbeing due to them being non-judgmental and accepting of everyone. The AAI space creates a safe space for students to express their emotions and helps create a tool kit to remove barriers they face on a daily basis. 

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Pellets - £4.50
• Hay - £6.00
• Sawdust - £6.00
• Veg - £20
• Insurance - £30
• Equipment Ie. House, tunnels, cleaning spray, health med, travel cases - £10

Simba and Davey the tortoises

Davey and Simba are different species of tortoises which helps our students identify differences, personal development, and care needs in themselves and others. Teaching students to care for tortoises with health checks to bathing methods leads students to learn these areas to develop within their own personal care needs. They are also able to help our younger students with road safety and awareness to develop these skills needed when out in the community.  

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Veg - £11 
• Insurance - £14
• Sand - £7.50
• Bulbs - £25
• Equipment ie. Tunnels, sandpaper, travel case, health - £5

Stitch the bearded dragon

Stitch is our bearded dragon who is a reptile and a species that many of our students would not have the opportunity to interact with before. This helps engage our students that have an interest in fantasy and mystery worlds. Working with Stitch is a direct link to embed fine motor skills and coordination into students’ sessions. Stitch helps to teach students social communication and interaction skills both with peers and adults. These skills then develop back in the classroom setting, at home with students’ families, and out in the community to prevent and remove this from becoming a barrier in their life. 

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Crickets & Meal worms - £30
• Veg - £10
• Sand - £5.50
• Bulb Replacements - £25
• Equipment ie. Branches, sandpaper, travel case, health - £6.00
• Insurance - £16

Nibbles and Nugget the hamsters

We have recently gained our two newest additions to the Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) team in the form of two dwarf hamsters. These two baby girls maybe little but they are quick! Inscape House School students voted and chose the names Nibbles and Nugget. They love spending time training on their running wheel and even join the same running wheel at the same time, which often leads to one of them tumbling over mid-run. 

Nibbles and Nugget have a big impact despite their small size. Their soft nature teaches our students the importance of being gentle and patient when handling them. Through fun and engaging activities like maze running and fast-paced wheel stunts, they help foster empathy skills. The students learn the responsibilities of caring for the hamsters, which requires them to adapt to the ever-changing situations that arise which enhances their social skills and teaches them how to cope with change without prior notice. Sponsor our students’ favourite new little bundles of joy.

What does it cost each month to take care of us:

• Pellets - £2.99
• Bedding - £2.00
• Sawdust - £2.40
• ​Veg - £3.00
• Insurance - £5.00
• Equipment Ie. House, tunnels, cleaning spray, health medication, travel cases - £5.00

Shabba the dog

Shabba is a cockapoo and has set tails wagging settling into his role as a support dog in the paw paddocks with our Inscape students across our phases and pathways. Shabba helps students learn animal care skills while improving their sensory tolerance, fine motor skills, social interaction and communication skills with their peers in their group sessions. 

Shabba can recognise the students’ needs and adapts quickly to the flow of sessions. Shabba particularly enjoys being pampered after a few tasty treats with extra attention being made to make his fur look extra nice with students brushing it. 

Shabba is Inscape House School’s VIP weekly visitor and is owned by a member of staff, so some areas such as insurance, vets, and grooming are covered by the staff member.

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Food - £5 
• Toys - £3  
• Bed - £4 bed
• Equipment - £8
• Insurance - £10 
• Vet/grooming - £5

Axie the axolotl

Axie is a very popular new addition to our AAI animals being an unusual animal – an axolotl, part of the salamander family. Due to axolotls being endangered in the wild, the students are doing their part to help keep the species alive and AAI sessions will help to educate them about the importances of helping animals around the world. Students feed Axie fish-based pellets and bloodworms and test the water levels. They also help our AAI practitioner change the water and keep the axolotl happy at Inscape.  

What does it cost each month to take care of me:

• Food - £13
• Equipment - £4
• Insurance - £3.50
• Toys - £2.50
• ​Tank and supplies for the tank - £5