The pitter-patter of tiny cloven hooves has been thrilling rural science students at Chipping Campden School following the arrival of

rare breed lambs.

The school farm has been awash with the woolly jumpers as eight Cotswold Longwool lambs arrived over the past fortnight.

It is run as part of the rural science curriculum or ELBS (Environmental & Land-based Science). This subject is offered as an option for all students and taught to GCSE level by Geoff Carr, chair of the nation-wide School Farms Network.

He said: “As a species, humankind has been looking after crops and animals for millennia. It’s hard-wired into us. I believe it is extremely good for young people to understand where their food comes from. The look on the students’ faces when they are interacting with the animals is priceless.”

The newborns have come from seven ewes that make up a demonstration flock that has been part of the school since 2007. The flock, which at one point numbered 27 animals, originally descended from two ewes and lambs purchased from Cotswold farmer and BBC Countryfile TV presenter Adam Henson.

Students participate in all aspects of animal husbandry from weighing and measuring the lambs, docking tails, bottle feeding where necessary and general looking after them and their mothers.

This distinctive breed of Longwool was introduced into the country by the Romans, and their wool played a major role in the development of many Cotswold towns and villages including Chipping Campden.

Their wool, known at the ‘Golden Fleece’ was an important export and played a major role in the wealth and prosperity of the district and nation as a whole. The fifteenth century founder of Chipping Campden School was in fact a wealthy wool merchant that left money in his will to establish a school for boys.