BENDIGO Senior Secondary College school leavers will experience one rite of passage, after a year in which they have missed many.
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The school has taken a creative approach to its graduation ceremony, which would normally draw a crowd of thousands.
In a combination real and virtual ceremony, students will collect their certificates and families will watch - just not at the same time.
School leavers will accept their graduation certificates individually - meeting social distancing requirements - on the stage of Ulumbarra Theatre over the course of several days.
The school will collate footage of students accepting their certificates and broadcast it later, with all the normal speeches.
The online event will allow families to gather to watch their child graduate.
Assistant principal Kylie Hand said BSSC hoped the ceremony would be meaningful for the students, despite not being able to have family in the audience.
Mrs Hand said the school had really hoped to run a graduation ceremony, because students had missed so many rites of passage - everything from 18th birthday parties to licence testing and sporting finals.
She said while students had been disappointed to miss some things, they had shown great resilience, adaptability and kindness during the year.
OTHER NEWS:
"Although students are missing out on many rites of passage, we do believe the class of 2020 are coming out with skills that no other class has ever had before," Mrs Hand said.
"There is disappointment around it, and they have missed out on certain events, [but they should] focus on the amazing skills that they have learnt this year.
"That can put them in such an amazing position for their future."
BSSC's online graduation ceremony will take place in the first week of November.
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