The sixth year final fling is a rite of passage for young people – so getting ready for school prom is a big deal.
It’s the biggest party most teenagers will ever have attended so they pull out the stops and dress to the nines in outfits many have spent weeks or even months planning.
Schools through Tayside and Fife are staging proms and leavers dances throughout June, some of which are being featured in our Class of ’22 picture gallery series.
And before their night in the Huntingtower Hotel on Wednesday, Perth Academy leavers Cadee Stronach and Sophie Dyson told us about getting ready for school prom, and their relief that the event could go ahead after Covid.
Cadee Stronach
Prom is an occasion young people look forward to for a long time, Cadee told us, so she and her peers were relieved to be the first year group to have one since Covid struck.
“Everybody, even in S1, we couldn’t wait until prom. Throughout the whole of high school everyone has been looking forward to it.
“It would have been disappointing if it didn’t happen.”
In the days leading up to the event, she said, excitement was mounting.
“We’ve all been stuck at home [during lockdown], not seeing people. And there are people coming who have already left school so it will good to see them.”
For her dress, Cadee, 18, visited bridal shops with her mum Maxine and picked up a real bargain – a long, blue gown with sequins.
We will probably all get ready together, be together one last time before we all leave, get changed and get some photos.”
Cadee Stronach, 18
She said: “We went to Glasgow and I found one dress. It was so expensive but I thought, ‘that’s the one’. We had another shop to go to and in the second shop there was another dress I liked and it was so much cheaper. The first was about £450 and the second dress was £17. Me and my mum looked at each other and were like ‘oh my gosh’!”
Cadee, who is going to study sport and exercise science at Heriot-Watt University in September, planned to meet up with friends before prom.
“I’m getting my hair done before I go and we will probably all get ready together, be together one last time before we all leave, get changed and get some photos.”
Sophie Dyson
Sophie, 18, chose a purple gown from a bridal shop after failing to find anything glamorous enough on the High Street with mum Susan.
She said: “We went to Edinburgh for the day but we weren’t very successful, the shops have all gone quite casual after lockdown.
“We decided to try some bridal shops so we went to Dundee and I got my dress from Alison Kirk.”
Sophie tried on several dresses and said: “It was really exciting. I was torn between two. One was a really nice blue but my mum said it was a more grown-up style and I should save it for my graduation.
“The one I got I really felt like a princess in it.”
Some of the S6 girls shared their outfit updates in a prom chat. Sophie said: “Everyone put their pictures of their dresses in the group chat to make sure there were no clashes.”
Like Cadee, Sophie, soon to be an Edinburgh University psychology student, was worried their prom might succumb to Covid like those of the previous two year groups.
She said: “We haven’t spent too much time together as a year because of lockdown and having to do schooling in your bedroom.
“Even after coming back from Covid school was still very restricted, having a one-way system and not being able to gather in big groups outside.”
Many fundraising events pupils had planned were thwarted by Covid rules.
“Having a big event like this is really good and we know other years haven’t had that so we feel really grateful.”
Conversation