Furious parents have lashed out at a secondary school for allegedly isolating their children because their skirts were too short and leaving their kids in tears.
In violation of the school’s uniform code, a few female pupils at South Wigston High School in Leicestershire were expelled from class earlier this week.
Parents are upset because they claim staff had their girls queue up and have their skirts measured on Monday.
One girl had to wait for two hours before she was allowed to go because her dress did not comply with the uniform standard, which calls for skirts to be knee-length.
One of those impacted, Emma Harvey’s daughter, has called the school’s measures “stupid” and said they imply “girls are only entitled to education if they cover up.”
Another parent, who also requested anonymity, said that after her 12-year-old autistic daughter was “humiliated” by staff, she was so angry that she no longer wanted to attend the school.
The school has acknowledged that it did not want to offend the girls and that it is reevaluating its uniform policy.
Emma Harvey claims that when school officials voiced concerns about her clothing, her 14-year-old daughter was left “very distressed.”
A new school uniform regulation was implemented at the beginning of this term, and on Monday morning, females at the school were called into the school hall where staff members then measured their skirts to ensure compliance.
According to the rule implemented by administrator Stuart Kay, female pupils’ skirts must reach the knee.
Students were warned they would be thrown in isolation if their skirts didn’t conform on the first day it was imposed.
In the instance of my daughter, her skirt was just above the knee. She was given the choice of being removed from class and placed in isolation or donning a skirt supplied by the school for the day.
She was a little taken aback when she learned that her skirt didn’t adhere to the new guideline, but she took the skirt that was supplied to her so she could go back to class. But when she went to the dressing room to try it on, she discovered that it was too small for her.
In essence, they wanted her to wear a skirt that may fall down rather than one that was entirely appropriate. It is unbelievable.
In the end, she was forced to secure it around her waist with a hair bobble. The absurd thing is that even then, her skirt and the new skirt were almost the same length.
The new regulation and its bungled implementation, according to Ms. Harvey, a child psychologist, conveys absolutely the wrong message to both girls and boys.
“It is completely absurd to exclude females based only on the length of their school skirts,” she remarked.
“It is wrong that my daughter and other young girls be subjected to punishment and denied access to their education because of the length of their skirts.”
It implies that females can only attend school if they wear clothing. Men may wear shorts of any length, but boys can.
The lesson that our girls should get is that their rights are independent of whether or not they are covered up.
My kid is a terrific student, said Ms. Harvey. She was wearing the same skirt that she did a year ago since neither her height nor her weight had altered. She wears it with tights and shorts underneath, and it is completely appropriate.
The whole incident left the ladies feeling embarrassed and upset, and it was completely needless. It ought to have been handled much differently.
Another parent, who wished to remain nameless, told Leicestershire Live that her 14-year-old daughter and other girls whose skirts did not adhere to the rules were confined in a room and told they couldn’t go.
Staff were blocking the entrance and preventing the kids from leaving, she said. My daughter called my husband when she was in a terrible mood.
She broke down in tears as she told him what had transpired. She said that several young women were attempting to scale the windows. My husband contacted the police because he was so furious. He was very enraged, but they would not take any action.
He said to my daughter that he would pick her up. She couldn’t leave, he was informed when he arrived. Before he could take her home, he had to wait another two hours. He was indignant.
“My 12-year-old younger daughter was also impacted.” Later in the morning, she was informed that her skirt was too short. She is autistic and has anxiety. To be honest, she didn’t really get what was happening.
She was able to go home with her sister because one of my elder daughter’s friends was able to calm her down. She was so furious, in fact, that she skipped school the next day.
We work so hard to increase her self-esteem and motivate her to attend class every day. After then, something occurs. It makes absolutely no sense. They both work hard, are polite, and are excellent girls.
The way the school handled this was appalling. Give parents adequate notice if they were intending to implement a new school uniform policy. School uniforms may be costly and hard to find.
It’s almost tough to find a skirt that fits my older daughter. She has a slim frame, so whatever skirt she wears will fall just above her hips and hit her waist.
‘My daughter is in Year 11 at South Wigston High School and constantly getting thrown into isolation for the length of her skirt,’ claimed another parent, who also wished to remain unnamed.
She is 5 feet 8 inches tall and has a size 6 waist, so finding a school skirt that fits her waist and is long enough for her is challenging.
“I talked with the school, and they told me I had a week to get her a new skirt.” Girls should wear skirts between thigh and knee length that are charcoal grey, according to the school’s online dress code.
The skirts on my daughter are, but she always wears black tights and shorts beneath. Instead of worrying about skirts or being sent to an isolation facility, she should be focusing on getting ready for her GCSEs. Since it has never been an issue previously, it seems obvious that it ought to stop.
The school is a member of the Learning without Limits Academy Trust and is located on St Thomas Road in South Wigston (LwLAT).
Stuart Kay, the school’s principal, responded to the criticism by stating that there have been some anomalies in the school’s uniform requirements. A few pupils were dissatisfied when our uniform regulation was enforced on Monday.
We have emailed all parents to let them know that we will be reviewing our uniform policy in cooperation with our school community since it is never our aim to put kids in a difficult position.
However, one father said, “It’s too little, too late.” Parents and, more crucially, the students have stopped having faith in the headmaster. This whole situation has been handled horribly.
When he first came at the school, he declared his intention to win the community’s confidence and foster positive ties. But this isn’t the right course of action. His actions have been absurd.