Last Monday, Kingsbury Country Day School welcomed three goats and four chickens to its campus. In the days since, the school’s students have enjoyed getting to know the animals who will be part of their environmental science classes.

“You can feel the enthusiasm,” said Mark Fleming, an environmental science teacher.

Since their arrival on campus, the farm animals have gotten to know the slew of students who want to pick them up, pat their heads and get to know them. Fleming said this interaction with the animals will continually be a source of real-life learning for the kids.

“There’s the responsibilities of taking care of the animals,” he said. “But,in this day and age, there’s also empathy. This promotes empathy in a sense, and there’s a lot of things that come from this. I like the responsibility aspect of it, that they have to take care of the animals.”

The farm, built off a small barn that was already at Kingsbury, will likely host more chickens in the future because the school’s kindergarteners incubate eggs. But as far as size goes, the school expects to maintain the small atmosphere in coming years.

The idea for a farm came last year from Head of School David Poirier, who was still new to his job at the time. Fleming said he is excited the idea finally came to fruition.

“This is something that (Poirier) dreamt up and I, of course, supported the idea because I think it’s great for students to interact with animals… This is a great experience for our students here at Kingsbury,” Fleming said. “This is something that we didn’t have in play before.”

The animals were donated by Upland Hills Farm thanks to the efforts of the Berant family, which has children enrolled at Kingsbury. Because of their history at Upland Hills, Fleming suspects at least a few of the animals are already well-accustomed to having children around.

Kingsbury is known in part for its emphasis on outdoor learning. Fleming said students are taken pond dipping and can take classes that teach outdoor cooking or survival skills. This farm will become another tool in the box for the environmental science program as students learn to care for animals.

“They’re going to learn, for instance, about holding the chickens properly and not stressing them out,” Fleming said. “It’s life’s experiences that they can learn from this. It’s almost inadvertent learning.”

Many students have already shown the enthusiasm to scoop up and hold a chicken and the discernment to leave a cranky animal alone. The school hopes the students and their new animals will continue to be friends for years to come.

“It’s been completely positive,” Fleming said. “It’s a positive interaction between animals and students.”

For more photos of the farm, check out a copy of this week’s issue!