MacKillop launched its first Paw Pals school holiday program in July 2025, thanks to funding from the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Foundation.
MacKillop launched its first Paw Pals school holiday program in 2025, thanks to funding from the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Foundation.
The Foundation has been supporting Paw Pals in Ballarat since 2022, and today the program is delivered across some 17 schools, supporting up to 150 students.
Working alongside a trained therapy dog and program facilitator, Paw Pals builds student engagement and confidence through animal-assisted activities and individualised learning sessions. It targets young people struggling with learning challenges, intellectual disabilities (ADHD/ADD), anxiety, low confidence/self-esteem, and personal and/or home challenges.
Due to the program’s success in Ballarat, MacKillop expanded the Paw Pals experience by launching its first school holiday program.
Thanks to continued funding support from the Diocese Foundation, school holiday activities began in July 2025, with plans to run sessions during future school holidays over the next few years.
Seven students from four Ballarat schools took part in a three-day program featuring thoughtfully designed activities to help strengthen key social and emotional skills, such as building confidence, developing resilience and forming positive relationships.
The first school holiday program proved a great success with both students and parents. As one student noted: “Thank you so much for making me happy and making me enjoy my time.” Those sentiments were echoed by one parent, who said their child “…came back really happy and was talking about it for days”.