Schoolkat turns the classroom into a living room
School cats fulfill a pedagogical and didactic role in some schools. Who wants to argue above the table when there is a cat under the table that wants to be petted?
Kitten Toos catches mice and puts children at ease at the green pre-vocational secondary education Vonk in Castricum. Image Fred van Diem.
A cat's behavior is a good indicator of the atmosphere in a classroom. When he was a child at home at De Regenboog primary school in Hoedekenskerke in Zeeland, the black cat Case walked freely in and out of the classrooms. Meowing, he jumped onto sinks in the classrooms where the children gave him to drink from a tap. After drinking, he liked to lie down on the sink. “But if children started moving or making noise, he didn't know how quickly to get away,” says director Astrid Korstanje. 'This class is too busy for me' was the message and the teacher did not have to add anything more.
Wagler
The Onderwijsblad has published several times about the value of school dogs. They are nice to pet during a difficult conversation at school, which makes it easier. And if someone reads in a stuttering manner, a dog will continue to listen faithfully, without sighing. But if you want to calm down a class, startled meowing is probably more useful than busy barking and wagging your tail.
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And the cuddliness factor of cats is just as useful in the classroom as that of dogs. Korstanje remembers once seeing children in the upper grades sitting together to discuss a conflict while Case walked under the table. The children's hands went down, under the table, to pet the cat. Then go argue again above the table.
Simba liked to walk around the break room where the children petted him
More than a year ago, De Regenboog decided to introduce Case on the website as a member of the education team. With 'bringing love and keeping chairs warm' as a task. Despite this formal position, Case has not been seen at the school since the beginning of this year. “The children were worried, so I rang the doorbell at his home address, a few streets away,” says Korstanje. “Case's owner was not at home, but the neighbor was. Case sat there in the garden watching the birds, apparently too busy to go to school.
School cat Toos also has a didactic role at the green pre-vocational secondary education Vonk in Castricum. Children learn how to interact with animals, but also how to identify animals.
School cats with their own accounts on Instagram are also usually only loosely connected to their schools. The cat from the Stedelijk Lyceum Kottenpark in Enschede is seen lazing around the school of the same name in photos. Barry the School Cat and school cat Plato also wander aimlessly across school yards or through the bicycle shed while someone tries to pet him every now and then.
Catching mice
Kitten Toos does have a permanent place at the green pre-vocational secondary education Vonk in Castricum. “She earns her living by catching mice,” says animal care teacher Iris de Ridder. “Her wages are paid in chunks.” At night, Toos walks freely through the school. She is not allowed outside yet, because she has not yet been chipped and neutered.
Vonk Castricum previously employed cat Nala and cat Simba, but that did not end well. “Simba liked to walk around in the break room where the children would pet him,” says De Ridder. “Very nice, but he couldn't stay because he felt too comfortable there. We kept Simba and Nala in an outbuilding of the school that also housed their food, basket and water, but Simba preferred the main building. There he liked to sunbathe in a display case where students practice displaying. Very nice, but Simba also haunted the main building at night. The police had to respond several times because the burglar alarm went off.”
When you pet animals, a cuddle hormone is released in your body
Another home was found for Simba and to make matters worse, Nala died in an accident. “She was hit by a car,” says De Ridder. “That had a big impact on the children. They walked into my classroom in dismay to ask if it was really true. The news was shared on social media.” De Ridder understood the sadness, although as an animal keeper she can also look at the loss soberly. “We also had Nala in the house to do her work and she enjoyed her freedom.”
Hermetically sealed
Initially, the management decided that it was not wise to get a new school cat. “We as a team ultimately did not accept that,” says De Ridder. “Our school is not hermetically sealed off from the outside world. Mice can walk in and out and that is why we should not use poison. With the cat's departure, our mouse plague also returned in full force. Mice carry diseases and a cat not only catches mice, it also repels mice.”
The management was persuaded and Toos has been there since November. Just like Nala and Simba, she puts children at ease, says De Ridder, and she brings a homely atmosphere to the classroom. “In that respect, it is no different than a pet that greets you at home. As soon as a cat comes in, children sink to the ground. They kneel or sit down to pet her and no longer care that the ground is dusty or that they are wearing an expensive sweater that could get dirty. The love for the animal overcomes that.”
The management of vmbo Vonk in Castricum initially decided that it was not wise to get a new school cat. “We as a team ultimately did not accept that,” says Iris de Ridder.
De Ridder knows from experience that animals such as horses, her own dachshunds, but also cats mirror the behavior of children, as she calls it. It can help if, for example, an animal sits on the lap of a student who is experiencing problems. “That helps because when you pet animals, oxytocin is released in your body. They call it the cuddle hormone, but that substance also promotes learning performance.”
The school cat also has a didactic role in Castricum. First of all, children with cats learn how to interact with animals. “They allow themselves to be petted,” says Ridder. “But then it suddenly ends and a cat can suddenly lash out.”
The fact that Nala died in an accident had a major impact on the children
Toos is also useful because children in green pre-vocational secondary education must learn how to identify animals or draw up a description of them based on characteristics such as gender, height, breed, age, color and markings.
Melancholy
Director Astrid Korstanje thinks back with nostalgia to the time when Case sat in front of the door every morning waiting for the teachers to arrive at 7.15 am so that he could walk in with them. But De Regenboog primary school faces bigger problems than a stubborn cat that no longer wants to come. With only 36 students, the school's survival is threatened and for a while it looked as if the doors would have to close permanently from February 1.
Fortunately, Case argued in favor of preserving the school in a column in the door-to-door newspaper De Borselse Bode. “Where else am I supposed to take my naps?” wrote the school cat. And on behalf of the children, parents and villagers he asked the question: 'Who benefits from this?' It has helped for now. “We will remain open at least until the summer holidays,” says Korstanje.
