They may be less than 3ft tall, but the latest recruits at Varndean School, Brighton, are having a big impact on behaviour.

Maya, Bertie, Alan, Ethel and William are pygmy goats whose role has expanded beyond being mere school pets and grass-cutters.

The secondary has also decided to use “goat time” for students who are at risk of misbehaving in class - and has found that behaviour incidents have dropped dramatically since their arrival in September.

Hilary Goldsmith, who joined Varndean as director of finance a year ago, brought the goats in after noticing that an enclosed grassed courtyard could do with being grazed. She obtained them from her former school, Saffron Walden County High, which has a farm and wanted to rehome the animals.

“There are definitely students for whom we use goat time as a de-escalation technique, and for whom we have noticed a significant change in engagement and behaviour,” Ms Goldsmith said.

And while the school is not claiming to have scientific proof that goats improve behaviour, its records do show that behaviour incidents have fallen by 29 per cent compared with the same period (September to January) last year.

“As a school we always try to use a restorative approach to dealing with behaviour incidents,” Ms Goldsmith said. “So you might well find a member of staff taking a student out to the goats’ quad to have a restorative conversation in a neutral environment.”

Creature comforts

The positive impact of the goats does not surprise John Murray, an education consultant specialising in behaviour.

“There is a long tradition in schools of using animals to develop behaviour and emotional regulation in children,” said Mr Murray, the founder of Jogo Behaviour Support. “Traditionally, the animals used may have been guinea pigs, hamsters and goldfish.

“However, the use of pygmy goats seems to be a very creative response by the school to support the children to engage in their learning environment when it may be a challenge to do so, developing skills such as empathy, responsibility and taking the needs of others into account.”

Pygmy goats, which are smaller than a Labrador dog, are the ideal animals for the school according to Ms Goldsmith, because they take very little maintenance - just twice-daily feeding, cleaning out and the occasional hoof clipping.

“The thing with goats is that they give back whatever you give to them,” she said. “They will get to know you, become friends with you, and interact in funny and engaging ways.

“We told the pupils they were coming in advance, and they had loads of posters up. But we didn’t know how popular it would be. We had to limit the numbers visiting them. Each 40-minute lunchtime we have one member of staff and up to 15 children out there.”

The first rule of goat club…

A school goat club with 100 members has sprung up to help care for the animals and there are also badges for students who are particularly dedicated to their welfare. The animals have starred in student films, been the subject of poems and one girl made Christmas stockings for them. Four students are now designated as “goat leaders”, and turn up every day to do the feeding and cleaning.

“Goats don’t cost a lot to run,” said Ms Goldsmith, who estimated that about £30 a month was needed for feed and hay. “We ask parents to donate when they go online to pay for school dinners and students fundraise through selling rope bracelets and badges.

“At the winter concert, we sold chocolate raisins as ‘goat poo’. We cover the costs through donations, and everything else is voluntary.”