School principal defends students' US-style 'prom-posal' that went viral

A Queensland schoolgirl said she had no idea her boyfriend had a huge prom-posal style surprise for her ahead of their year 12 formal.

Lilly Devlin told Today it's hard to get anything by her, and when her partner of eight months, Riley Exelby, had to quickly duck out of class all of a sudden, she knew something was up.

And sure enough, when the end-of-class bell rang, Lilly was treated to quite the surpise as she made her way through the large crowd of students waiting outside.

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Riley had spent weeks planning the surprise, which involved Lilly being handed flowers from kids in the crowd and Riley jumping out from behind a group of boys holding up a sign that read "FORMAL?"

Throw in some chocolates and other sweet treats, and it's no wonder Lilly's answer was a definite yes.

Video of the grand gesture has gone viral online and while some principals may be hesitant to see such a big spectacle play out in their own Australian schools, Victoria Point's Susan Taylor was all for it.

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"I've been speaking a lot this year around community connection and this is a really great example of kids having some agency and spreading some positivity," Susan told Today.

"And I think that's probably my favourite thing, watching all the faces of all the students as they pan down, they're just genuinely happy and happy to be part of the experience and supporting Riley to give this experience to Lilly."

Hear more from Lilly and Riley in the video above