Senior students at a Tayside secondary school say they have been left furious after their head teacher cancelled their end-of-year prom.
Perth Grammar pupils said they had “worked themselves to the bone” on their traditional leavers’ party, and had already spent hundreds of pounds on new outfits.
They claimed the summer celebration was scrapped because head Fiona Robertson feared a low attendance would leave the event looking “sparse”.
In a statement to The Courier, a group of disgruntled pupils said one of the main reasons for the “low” numbers was that Miss Robertson had earlier banned pupils due to their school attendance (“less than 92%”), and that the blocked list included children who had been off for medical reasons.
It is the second major row between staff and students to hit the school in recent years.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokeswoman confirmed the school prom had been cancelled.
“Due to a number of factors, including rising individual cost, interest from young people and those eligible to attend, it is not now viable to offer an end-of-year prom to this year’s S6 at Perth Grammar School.”
In their press statement, signed “Perth Grammar Pupils”, the youngsters said: “Most would think that leaving school is meant to be an exciting time, before the next chapter of our lives begin.
“Not for us. Our head teacher has ruined everything about our school leaver experience.”
Pupils said they were made to feel “unwanted and unappreciated”.
They said: “Pupils worked themselves to the bone preparing and planning our prom, with many pupils already spending hundreds of pounds on dresses, suits, hair and make-up appointments.
“We had already organised venues and DJs etc, for Miss Robertson to turn around and decide that she could call this off.”
The statement continues: “We are all left furious, with many parents in disbelief too.
“Miss Robertson has only made her relationship with us pupils worse. All the previous seniors in Perth Grammar School were permitted to have a prom, so what makes us any different?
“We are a small, close year group, who are well behaved. We are all speechless and do not think we deserve to have this happen to us.
“We wanted to leave school and have fond memories, we didn’t want to feel the resent we do now.”
In 2016, more than 3,000 people signed a petition urging the school to reverse its closed toilets policy.
Miss Robertson had only taken the reins at the school a few weeks earlier when the controversy broke.
She told The Courier at the time that she was simply “re-emphasising what has always been school policy.”
