Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has hailed an Inverness school as “awesome” after pupils covered a song from his latest film.
Drakies Primary posted a video of pupils performing This Is Me, a hit from The Greatest Showman, on its Twitter page.
The school described it as “an amazing song to empower and celebrate diversity and difference”.
It was performed during a celebration of diversity at the school.
Jackman, who has starred in blockbusters like X-Men and Van Helsing, retweeted the video to his 12 million followers and said: “Hey @DrakiesPS… you are ALL awesome and unique… and your teachers are too!”
Hey @DrakiesPS … you are ALL awesome and unique … and your teachers are too! @GreatestShowman #Soundtrack #ThisIsMe https://t.co/PLyiYN37K3
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) January 14, 2018
Jackman’s tweet was prompted by singer Keala Settle, who portrays a bearded lady and performs This Is Me in the film, who initially posted the video and said: “I went to bed last night, my soul in despair.
“I woke up to hope. Leave it to the little ones to remind us of what’s important.”
Drakies said it received a lot of positive feedback to its video.
It posted online: “We have been overwhelmed by the response to our wee school assembly in Inverness, Scotland. To be not only contacted by Keala Settle and Hugh Jackman but to reach out to over 36,000 people to encourage diversity and difference means something very special.”
We have been overwhelmed by the response to our wee school assembly in Inverness, Scotland to be not only be contacted by @kealasettle and @RealHughJackman but to reach out to over 36k people to encourage diversity and difference means something very special #ThisIsMe pic.twitter.com/RD6RwcKkQx
— Drakies Primary (@DrakiesPS) January 15, 2018
Drakies Primary has become known for its proactive work in the local community.
In 2016 the school’s P7 pupils started a community café after studying social isolation. They encouraged locals – particularly the elderly – to come in for a cup of tea and a natter to help combat loneliness.
The Greatest Showman is a musical drama which tells the story of PT Barnum’s creation of the Barnum and Bailey Circus and the lives of its star attractions.
The film itself has received mixed reviews but its soundtrack has been hugely successful. In the US, it is just the fifth film soundtrack to spend multiple weeks at number one in the last decade while several songs from the film have reached the heights in the UK singles chart.