HARTLAND, Mich. – There’s a special tradition at Village Elementary School in Hartland for the last 13 years that’s as much educational as it is adorable.

For the 13th year in a row, Vanessa the Village Elementary School momma duck has flown into the school’s enclosed courtyard to lay her eggs under the same shrub, and waddles out of the school through the hallway with her flock once they hatch, the Livingston Daily reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Retired teacher Ruth Darrah works with the school to ensure Vanessa is welcomed back every year, a tradition that engages the students and staff in the duck’s life, from laying and hatching her eggs to her annual trek to a pond on campus once they hatch.

“We were afraid she wasn’t going to return this year, but she did,” Darrah told the news site.

Students watched through classroom windows lining the courtyard as Vanessa prepared her nest and counted down the days until her eggs hatched. They prepare the hallway between the courtyard and school entrance with black construction paper to help direct Vanessa and her flock to safety, but Darrah said the duck likely doesn’t need directions.

“She has it down by now, after 13 years,” she said.

“It’s so unusual, but everyone gets so invested in this duck because how cool is it that she comes back each and every year,” Elizabeth Krause, a local parent who has come in to watch Vanessa lead her ducklings out of the building each year.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

On Thursday, Vanessa was prepared when school staff unlocked the enclosed courtyard and she waddled through the school with eight ducklings in tow around 4 p.m.

“It’s the best thing you will ever witness,” principal William Cain told the Livingston Daily.

“Everyone knows about the duck because even maintenance (staff) will go, ‘Can we cut the grass in the courtyard yet, or is the duck there?’” he said. “I told them, ‘No, you have to wait until the duck is out of there.’”

ABC News posted a video about the duck’s departure on YouTube.

Krause thinks the Vanessa’s trust in the school as a safe haven to raise her duckings is a testament to Village Elementary’s welcoming atmosphere.

“Ducks have a natural instinct for danger, so it’s funny that it just trusted that it would get out (of the courtyard) somehow,” she said. “I think that really speaks volumes of our community at Village and in Hartland. It shows that we are a safe and caring community.”