Students finishing their studies at Warwick Academy were given a grand send-off by their peers and staff as part of a new tradition.

On the last day of school, as part of their valedictory ceremony, school leavers were greeted by other students as part of the celebrations.

The aim is to also encourage school leavers to continue their involvement in the school after they have left.

Warwick Academy principal Dave Horan said: “The tradition started last year and was a huge success. We wanted to create a memory for the students that are leaving and create a link between being a student and being an alumni.

“We would like to see our students play an important role in school life in the future whether its offering students career advice, providing connections, sitting on the board or donating — we want that connection.

“We have 353 years of history here. We thought it would be nice for the students to walk across the court, have a photograph and walk through the tunnel so when they leave school, it is a process.

“We line the corridors and the cloisters with the students and they cheer them along then we go up to Fourways and we do a sit-down lunch — Alumni Association sponsors the lunch and we give them a goodbye.”

Year 13 students at Warwick Academy have been accepted into a variety of colleges and universities in Canada, the UK and USA, ranging from Cambridge and Durham in the UK to Queens and UBC in Canada and Brown and College of Charleston in the USA.

The students are pursuing a wide variety of courses including computer science, archaeology, architecture, engineering, product design and occupational therapy.

Zach Myers is a first for Warwick Academy as he has a conditional acceptance directly into Kings College Cambridge University in England for English while Hannah Marshal has unconditional offers to both Ivy League Brown University and Stanford and has chosen Stanford in California to study Chemistry.