A GLEAMING limousine, decorated with a pale pink ribbon, pulls up outside an imposing Edwardian hotel.

The smartly-dressed chauffeur opens the car door, and out steps a beaming girl, resplendent in long white dress and tiara.

“You look like a princess!” shouts one of the waiting crowd.

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Which is music to her ears.

It may sound like a scene from every girl’s dream wedding, but the “bride” in question is just 16 years old, and this isn’t her wedding day – it’s her prom.

No longer the preserve of American high schools, proms are a big deal on our shores, too, with thousands of Year 11 pupils across the Midlands donning their glad rags this summer to mark the end of their GCSE exams.

Gone are the days when your last day of school involved slow-dancing at a disco in the sports hall to the sounds of the latest Now! compilation. These days, pupils spend hours – and hundreds of pounds – on making sure their prom night is one of the most memorable of their young lives.

To see just how far the prom phenomenon has taken hold, I joined nearly 250 students and staff from Perry Beeches School in Great Barr for their Las Vegas-themed bash at the Paragon Hotel in Digbeth.

Months of preparation had gone into the event, with a 12-strong student prom committee tasked with finalising every last detail from the theme and the menus to the fund-raising to get the cost of the event down to £20 per pupil.

“There are two days that every girl has the chance to feel really special – one is her wedding day and the other is her prom day,” says Perry Beeches pupil and prom committee member Jodi Clarke. “We worked hard to subsidise the cost of the ticket because with the hair, the make-up, the tan and dress, it does add up and we wanted everyone to make it.”

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