YOU’VE got to admire Myla Smith’s resourcefulness, even if her cunning plan wasn’t executed in the slickest of fashions.

The Scots schoolgirl’s attempt to get out of her PE class with a sick note “from mum” wasn’t exactly “the dog ate my gym kit”, but her bold bid to pull the wool over the eyes of authority has gone viral.

Six-year-old Myla, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, presented her teacher with a handwritten letter claiming it had been written by her mum Siobhan McLelland.

The youngster was rumbled after spelling errors – and some questionable handwriting – blew the gaff.

The note read: “Sory Myla cant bo PE today she is sic. From Mylas mum”.

McLelland said she was given the note by Myla’s teacher when she collected her daughter from school.

Sharing the note on social media, she said Myla hates PE and can be a bit of a drama queen. She added: “At least I was high school before I faked the notes. Looks very realistic hun.”

McLelland’s post gained thousands of likes and hundreds of comments from people who branded the schoolgirl a “genius”.

One said: “Would have let her off PE just for all the effort she made.”

I would never condone such classroom duplicity, of course. Over the past year of Zoom teaching college students, I’ve heard a few excuses, mainly concerning cameras being switched off. It’s accepted that students might have tech issues. But don’t be found out if you haven’t and you just can’t be bothered joining in. Don’t still be hanging about in class as a black box after your classmates have been dispatched to undertake tasks offline. That’s a bit of a giveaway.

Instead, I prefer honesty. I can’t argue with the students who say they haven’t turned on their cameras because they’re having a bad hair day and don’t feel like facing the class (I do point out that’s me every class, but I don’t have the option!). I also tell them I’m looking forward to meeting them when we’re back face to face in college to find out how comfortable it is to wear black cardboard boxes over their heads in class. I’ve been busy making this special headgear for that very purpose.

I’m joking, of course. And I’ve been that young person trying to dodge classes.

I loved PE, so was always up for most activities. Except running. When the hockey pitches were frozen over in the winter and the red blaes turned to sludge, we would be sent out on a freezing cold run. I didn’t completely skip this … I just kept a slow pace, having volunteered to “look after my friends with asthma”. So thoughtful.

However, my most flagrant dodging of classes was to avoid double physics, which coincided with extra choir practice for the Christmas service. I cleared my throat and volunteered. Sadly, I can’t sing for toffee, but obviously desperation was afoot and I was stuck at the back, droning away as some kind of uber alto.

My singing career never quite took off and, strangely, I only scraped a C for my O-grade physics.

Myla, however, deserves a straight A for her ingenuity.