PICTURES: Cavalcade marks end of the year for Inverness school pupils
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Staff at an Inverness school toured the streets in a colourful and noisy cavalcade in a determined effort to stage end-of-school celebrations for their pupils.
Teachers and support staff at Cradlehall Primary decorated their cars in recognition of the sterling efforts by the children and families during the coronavirus crisis.
Although restrictions resulted in the usual end-of-year events being cancelled – including a trip to the Netherlands for P7 pupils – children and families along the route joined in the sense of occasion.
They were invited to make a noise, dress up and make banners and flags as the 28 cars and the school’s learning bus passed by.
Headteacher Lawrence Sutherland said the gesture was one way of thanking pupils, families and staff for their efforts through difficult times.
“Everyone has been working extremely hard to provide as good an experience as possible,” he said.
“This is a way to say ‘thank you for your support, have a good holiday and we will be here in August’.”
Mr Sutherland, who also thanked Police Scotland for sending a car to help with traffic flow, acknowledged it was not the usual way of finishing the school year.
“I think it has been especially hard on the P7 pupils to say goodbye this way,” he said.
“There are so many rites of passage that have had to be cancelled that they look forward to – their final assembly together and a trip to the Netherlands which had been planned a year in advance.
“They have been very mature about everything. They have responded without despondency.”
Mr Sutherland said pupils and staff had remained positive while the school had been closed since mid-March.
“It has been a very different way of working,” he said. “I think what has gripped all the staff is the sheer resilience of the children in the face of adversity – they have shown remarkable resilience and kept positive.
“We have had high levels of engagement throughout.”
