Rehoming guinea pigs to a school?

[Wiiiiieek!]

There were Giunea Pigs when I was in Nursery at primary school. This thread has reminded me of them

I used to love them but there were some kids in my class that would poke them and be horrible to them when the teacher wasn't looking.

They were taken to loads of different classrooms as well, in the end, they were removed and a teacher took them home because one ended up with a broken leg 8...

They weren't brought back again. I don't remember much else, I was little at the time.

 

[Nicquita]

when my little sister was younger, they had a solitary guinea pig as a nursery pet. we had him over a weekend once. he was well fed and seemed incredibly healthy and very laid back. i asked once, and he was a guinea that hadn't taken to other guinea pigs very well at all, and had been a teachers pet. he'd apparently perked up and been much friendlier once he'd become a classroom pet.

i suppose as this was a nursery, he wasn't passed around between classrooms, and was managed primarily by one teacher, but it didn't seem to make him particularly stressed or anything. from what i remember, he was a lovely little chatterbox piggle that came to his bars to see people.

my opinion may be skewed, as this was about five years ago, but i think if handled properly, with the right piggie, it could work quite well. though i definitely think talking to teachers and looking into the type of school would be essential. my sister's nursery was exceptionally good, so i guess it might've been quite dependant on that fact

 

[nutmeg]

Focus seems to be mostly on school life, what about when school closed, holidays, weekends, training days, heating breaks so school closed days? Is the pig to be transported somewhere every weekend? Who can transport and have a large cage? Would homechecks be done before allowing a child to take home? What if the home had other pets? Who would be educating the parents in pig care? Still a big 'no' from me. Haven't read anything here to make me even consider it. xx

 

[doglovinpiggylover]

Focus seems to be mostly on school life, what about when school closed, holidays, weekends, training days, heating breaks so school closed days? Is the pig to be transported somewhere every weekend? Who can transport and have a large cage? Would homechecks be done before allowing a child to take home? What if the home had other pets? Who would be educating the parents in pig care? Still a big 'no' from me. Haven't read anything here to make me even consider it. xx

me neither

 

[This Little Piggie]

Focus seems to be mostly on school life, what about when school closed, holidays, weekends, training days, heating breaks so school closed days? Is the pig to be transported somewhere every weekend? Who can transport and have a large cage? Would homechecks be done before allowing a child to take home? What if the home had other pets? Who would be educating the parents in pig care? Still a big 'no' from me. Haven't read anything here to make me even consider it. xx

Coming from a school that has chickens, a goat and a pig (all of which arrived prior to the Heads departure) I would say no animals as teachers consider them to be a pain in the neck !

The kids are often mean to or terrified of the animals mallethead

 

[Lisajazz]

I always say no to schools, I have been approached by about 5 schools too.

Just not happy with it.

 

[Rhubarb]

I think each school would have to be looked at its own merits and agree that not all classroom situations would be suitable.

My children's High School had animals in class which were the responsible of the teacher. One very popular science teacher kept reptiles and the head of chemistry had guinea pigs. An English teacher had fish too in class. End of term these animals went home with their 'owner'.

My daughter helped at Brownies and once in awhile took her guinea pig to 'meet the pack'. This gave the girls without pets a better in sight to animal care and actually prevented the girls pestering for a pet when 'Spud' peed over their uniforms!

The woman she ran the pack with worked with Downs Syndrome children and they had a mini zoo at the school, rabbits, guinea pigs chickens and such like (a calf one term). These kids took their responsiblities on fully but obviously under supervision, which is what a school environment is all about.