Muck-up day

"Muck-up day" is the name given to an unofficial tradition within secondary schools where graduating final-year students are involved with pranks and other activities on their last official day of school. These pranks are known in the United States and some other countries as senior pranks. The practice has been banned within some schools, and replaced with formal leaving activities to ensure students do not commit crimes or vandalise school or other property.

In the United Kingdom, muck-up days are common in independent schools and state schools, and members of staff (particularly grounds staff and porters) will often unofficially assist the perpetrators.

In Australia, muck-up days are a common practice in many schools, although their nature has evolved over the years such that activities are usually pre-approved by staff (e.g. a year co-ordinator) and are limited to those which cannot cause harm to staff, students or property.

Common pranks pulled on muck-up days include but are not limited to: adopting unusual or fancy dress, using water pistols, water bombs or shaving cream on each other or on teachers, issuing fake announcements over the public address system, starting barbecues in unusual places, imposing parking levies on the staff car park, issuing staff with detentions or uniform infringements, or simply having a party and popping crackers or throwing streamers everywhere. At some schools which ordinarily have strict uniform policies, the teachers turn up in full school uniform on the day, whereas the students are in free dress. Some schools announce a day off for the rest of the school, while others conduct an assembly to formally farewell the final-year students during the day's events.

Incidents such as graffiti, vandalism or harming other students are dealt with in a number of ways, as the students despite finishing school have not yet graduated and, in the case of students enrolled in academic subjects, have yet to sit their exams. In extreme cases, or those involving non-students who turn up on the day, the police may be called. In 2009, the whole graduating year level from Xavier College, a private school in Melbourne, Australia, was suspended after students were "blind drunk" and "urinating all over the neighbours' houses". They were also playing a dangerous mix of British Bulldogs and Rugby on the school oval, in which many were badly injured. At Scotch College in Perth, the Year 12 boys' valedictory dinner was cancelled by the school after some students vandalised and ran partially naked through two nearby girls' schools.