Our goats
At FPPF we have two twin sister pygmy goats, Lily and Poppy, that we have leased from the Bucks Goat Centre.
The centre works closely with schools and other establishments/events and our two goats are both experienced at being around a new environment, children and adults alike.
The staff from the centre have worked with us to set up suitable pens and provided training for us to care for the goats.
Lily and Poppy are twin sisters who were born at The Bucks Goat Centre on the 3rd March 2017 to their mother, Lily-Poppy. The girls have a wonderful nature and are very gentle; both love a scratch and a cuddle. Poppy is all brown in colour and Lily is grey and white.
When at The Bucks Goat Centre, Lily and Poppy live with their grandmother (Rosie), their aunt (Biscuit) and their cousins (Chewy and Chip). The goats love spending time together when they are in the same pen.
On the 15th January 2023, Lily gave birth to her first baby, Dexter. Now Dexter is an adult, he has moved to his forever home where he lives with his best mate, Benny. Both Lily and Poppy showered Dexter with affection and were amazing at bringing him up.
Before joining the ‘Goats For Schools’ programme, Lily and Poppy used to go offsite and join in with lots of fun activities such as weddings, birthday parties, school fetes, fairs, ‘Goat in your garden’ scheme and lots of other events.
As a federation of schools, we look for ways in which we can enrich our children’s lives. Animals can be a calming influence on humans but they also can be an important life lesson; learning how to care for an animal and provide all it needs to be happy and safe. To 'care' is one of our pillars of wellbeing. Our school values of Passion ~ Wellbeing ~ Respect are also developed and shown when caring for others and animals; as well as leadership development for our children that take on the daily duties needed to look after Lily and Poppy.
Our farm visits have showed us how many children love handling, caring for, feeding and being around animals. Goats are a perfect addition to our school family because they love attention and they are great around children.
To allow all of our children to see the goats, the goats live in two areas. Their night time home is a secure pen off of the Junior School playground where the goats will be from 3:15pm until the next morning every day.
The goats play pen or enrichment area is between the two schools where the goats will play and explore between 10:30am and 3:00pm.
Whilst all of our children have the opportunity to see and be around Lily and Poppy, our year 6 take lead in feeding, grooming, mucking out and moving the goats around; always with a staff member supervising.
To keep the animals and ourselves safe, we have rules and risk assessments in place. Anyone interacting with our goats must follow these rules.
