Our kids’ school has banned girls from wearing SKIRTS & forced them to wear trousers – it’s an outrage
A SCHOOL has sparked fury by banning skirts and telling all the children they must wear trousers.
Parents and pupils are up in arms against the decision, brought in at the start of the new academic year, at Haywood Academy in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.
An online petition against the move has already gathered over 150 signatures after it was set-up by mum-of-four Claire Rigby.
Claire, 41, claims two of her daughters have been threatened with seclusion if they turn up to lessons in skirts.
Her online petition, on change.org, reads: “Haywood Academy have decided to rebrand the uniform to make it more affordable (which I completely agree with) but in their wisdom decided to only allow tailored trousers for both boys and girls for the forthcoming year. This takes away the right for girls to choose skirts if they wanted too.
She added: “No real reason has been given for the removal of skirts other than affordability of uniform which is utterly ridiculous – what price difference is there between trousers and skirts?
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“Are they also telling female staff they can no longer wear skirts or dresses ( I don’t think so).”
In online comments, one person wrote: “The whole gender neutral thing is now going too far, if girls want to wear skirts let them, if they want to wear trousers let them. However do not force them as everyone has a right to wear their own choice of clothing. I know it’s a school uniform but the choices should be there.”
Another wrote: “Girls and women should not be forced to wear trousers.
“Would you force boys to wear skirts?”
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Claire says many Haywood Academy pupils are choosing to defy the ban, citing “double standards” because staff and teachers can still wear what they want.
She said the school carried out a survey before the summer holidays and opted for tailored black trousers for “affordability reasons”.
Claire’s older daughter, Louise Coates, 15, is a prefect, while her sibling Charlie Coates, 12, is going into year eight.
Both have only ever worn skirts to school and plan to continue to do so despite the risk of being put in isolation.
“The only option is black tailored trousers and no skirts. It hasn’t gone down well with my two daughters,” said Claire.
“There is a group of Year 10 girls that gathered lots of evidence from pupils, ex-pupils and anonymous staff members to show that it’s wrong and they don’t agree with taking skirts away.
“They had a meeting with the headteacher which was right before the break up at the end of term.
“Over the summer there have been numerous parents that have an email regarding it and nobody has had anything back.
“My girls won’t wear trousers. My daughter is the biggest tomboy in the world, she plays football and she still doesn’t want to wear trousers.
“There are a few pupils who have backed down because they don’t want to be put in seclusion. But my daughters don’t agree with it.”
Other schools across the UK have barred children from wearing skirts under new gender neutral rules.
But it is not yet clear whether this is the case with Hayward Academy.
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Other issues around wearing skirts found across different parts of the country include skirts being rolled up to make them too short.
Haywood Academy, opened in 2012, with 1,130 pupils aged 11 to 19, has been approached for comment.