The school cat helping pupils with Sats pressure

A cat that lives at a primary school has been helping to relieve pressure on pupils who are undergoing national tests.

Year 6 pupils at Outwoods Primary School in Atherstone, Warwickshire, are stroking and cuddling Cilla before and after their Sats (Standard Assessment Tests).

Head teacher Sally Taylor said she had a "calming" presence and was loved by the children.

Cilla, which is short for Priscilla Outwoods, has her own X account with thousands of followers and a post about how she was supporting pupils received about 1,300 likes.

Cilla became part of school after wandering onto the site seven years ago.

Mrs Taylor said she had brought an "extra dimension to our school" and was loved.

The cat has "beds all over the school" but lives in the key stage 2 (KS2) building and helped children transition from lower school to Year 3, she said.

"Monday and Tuesday she's been sitting in the middle of the hall and they have all given her a stroke so she just seems to sense when people need her and she's there, she's amazing," Mrs Taylor said.

Cilla and her X, formerly Twitter, account helped "open the children's eyes to the world", she added as the cat received letters from followers from places including Greenland and New Zealand.

Mrs Taylor added: "She's got 25,000 followers now from all across the world and gets many many cards and presents sent to her just out of the blue."

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