Young learners capped off their school year with a colourful graduation-style ceremony at their village church.

%image(14971252, type="article-full", alt="Pupils from Homefield primary school in Bradwell having their own graduation ceremony at St Nicholas Church in Bradwell.The school has been running its own passport system, encouraging "enrichment" activities.Picture: James Bass")

Proud parents and friends gathered in Bradwell to celebrate the achievements of 19 youngsters at Homefield Primary School who donned red mortar boards and gowns for the joyful occasion.

The children from Years 1 to 6 had all totted up a set number of hours at after-school activities and clubs to graduate from the school's own university scheme, launched last September.

Head of the 244-pupil school Ryan Freeman said the aim of the scheme was to encourage children to take part in extra-curricular activities by collecting stamps in their own enrichment passports.

He said: 'Children could get a box signed at every club they attended. This included all of the school's before and after school clubs and clubs run outside of school in the local area. In order to graduate, the children needed to get a minimum of 69 stamps. However, some children managed to fill more than one passport – the most being 209 stamps in ten months.

%image(14971252, type="article-full", alt="Pupils from Homefield primary school in Bradwell having their own graduation ceremony at St Nicholas Church in Bradwell.The school has been running its own passport system, encouraging "enrichment" activities.Picture: James Bass")

'On graduation day the children, along with invited friends, walked through the village in their robes to St Nicholas Church.

'Once there they took part in a beautiful graduation service. Each child told the audience what they had done in order to graduate and the certificates were handed out by the Mayor of Great Yarmouth and the local vicar Rev Chris Tinker. 'After the service the children had their photographs taken and processed back through the village to school.

'Thanks must go to all of the parents that have helped their children achieve this milestone and to all of the organisations that have run the clubs.

'At Homefield we have promised to provide our children with opportunities to shine, and today our graduates did exactly that. We are so very proud of each and every one of them – they are a credit to the school.'

The school opted to start its own scheme rather than join the county one so it could reward children for whatever it wanted and also allow them to graduate in the local church, chiming with the school's ethos.