MEMBERS of the Makaton Rocks signing group from Lochies School wowed thousands of spectators on the weekend by signing Flower of Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium.

Over a dozen pupils from the county travelled to the capital to take part in the opening stages of Saturday’s Scotland v France game.

They were invited after catching the attention of Dominic McKay, Scottish Rugby’s chief operating officer, earlier this year.

He spotted a video on Twitter of the pupils’ Makaton-signed version of Flower of Scotland, he decided to invite them along to last week’s test match.

Donna Wheater, the school’s depute headteacher, told the Advertiser more about how it went.

She said: “We had 13 pupils there, and six members of staff.

“When we arrived, we were given accredited passes and we were treated as VIPs.

“We were behind them when the teams lined up to sing their national anthems – we were just behind the Scottish rugby team and we were signing Flower of Scotland.

“To hear the crowd singing Flower of Scotland was amazing. It was at capacity; in excess of 67,000 people.”

And despite the thousands of people watching them, the pupils were not phased and performed the song perfectly.

Ms Wheater said: “They [the pupils] actually took it in their stride; I think it was the adults who were much more nervous.”

After taking part in the national anthem, pupils were then given priority seats to watch the game, and were also treated to lunch and a range of other extravagant extras throughout the day.

Ms Wheater was keen to thank the piper Stuart McMillan MSP, and Karen Ditch for all their support throughout the event.

When asked how everyone had found the experience, she said: “It was fantastic, they had a great time.”

Lochies, Clackmannanshire's specialist primary school for learners with severe and complex additional needs, uses Makaton Sign Language to augment communication at the school.