Two thousand schoolchildren will form a “guard of honour” for athletes on the opening night of the Olympics.
The pupils will show their support for the athletes as they file from the Olympic village into the stadium for the parade. Groups of young people will each “adopt” one of the 204-plus nations, waving flags and cheering them on.
Schools across the UK who signed up to the official “Get Set” Olympic syllabus will take part.
Little Spring Primary School in Bedfordshire will support Samoa and Earl Mortimer College in Hertfordshire will support Aruba. The pupils are learning the nations’ language and national anthems.
Another 1,500 schoolchildren from the six Olympic boroughs have also been invited to the show to dance in the “mosh-pit” during the opening sequences. The schools initiative forms the prelude to Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony — fresh details of which emerged at the weekend.
Locog chief Sebastian Coe today turned on the media for publishing details of the ceremony. He tweeted: “Share the frustration of volunteer performers and the public at the opening ceremony being unofficially trailed. Let’s #savethesurprise.”
Locog’s attempt to maintain secrecy suffered a setback when a no-fly zone to stop aerial photographs of the set was suspended. Lord Coe spoke out after it was reported that Sir Paul McCartney would close the ceremony with a performance of Hey Jude.
Boyle will give the show a political twist by celebrating immigration and protest moments and raising the spectre of unemployment.
His show will feature a “history parade” depicting the first major influx of Caribbean immigrants aboard the Windrush in 1948, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and the Jarrow march.
His “green and pleasant land” opening sequence will be transformed into a bleak industrial scene featuring seven giant chimneys.
