Holyrood students celebrate long-awaited Kindergarten graduation

By Mark Squibb

There was an unusually high number of Kindergarten graduates at Holy Cross Elementary this year.
That’s because staff at the Holyrood school hosted a special graduation celebration for Grade 4 and Grade 5 students who had been denied proper celebrations years earlier because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
“Kindergarten graduation is such a big milestone,” said Grade 4 teacher Stephanie Griffiths, who spearheaded the celebrations. “They’ve seen other students graduate the last few years but have never had the feeling of ‘This is my day.’ So, we thought it was important to do this for them.”
It all started when the school hosted Kindergarten graduation celebrations for this year’s graduating kindergarten class. After hearing students remark on how they never had a proper celebration for their Kindergarten graduation due to pandemic restrictions, Griffiths said that something had to be done.
The school hosted a celebration complete with slideshow, hotdogs, photos, certificates, and a cake that read, ‘Finally Kindergarten Graduates.’
“I had kids in my own class and kids I had last year who have moved on to Grade 5 come up and give me a big hug and say, ‘Thank you so much,’” said Griffiths. “It was something that really meant something to them. And for it to mean that much meant that they felt sad that they had missed out on that.”
Just over 80 Grade 4 and Grade 5 students ‘graduated’ last week.