A secondary school headteacher has banned short skirts, as she feels that the male staff were being “distracted."
Headteacher Dr Rowena Blencowe, was fed up of having to tell the pupils to roll down their skirts as it “barely covered their bottoms,” at Trentham High School, in Stoke-on-Trent. Male members of staff also felt embarrassed at the length of the skirts.
The school had even bought new skirts to prevent the rebellious girls from wearing them inappropriately. However, Dr Blencowe has decided it would be a better idea to just ban skirts at the school and make all the students wear trousers from next September.
Dr Blencowe said, “Girls in year seven, and possibly year eight, tend to abide by the rules, but as they get older the skirts get shorter. Now it's just a constant nag. Girls are coming in with skirts that just cover their bottoms - it's totally inappropriate. If a skirt is too short, the student is warned and a length of time is agreed for the issue to be resolved, but girls are still coming in with consistently short skirts.”
She further stated, “We've tried calling parents, sending pupils home and we've even had to buy some girls new skirts - which isn't something a school should have to do. Girls with the right length skirts are just rolling them up. We tell them in form period to roll them down, but by first break they're back up again. It's not pleasant for male members of staff and students either, the girls have to walk up stairs and sit down and it's a complete distraction. After a while it stops being a uniform issue and starts becoming a safeguarding issue.”
From September, if the students do not dress smartly, wearing business-like trousers, they will be sent home. The ban however, does not apply to members of staff.
Dr Blencowe explained, “The ban won't apply to staff, but we do have high expectations across the school. In the past I have had to challenge a few members of staff because of their attire and if they are inappropriately dressed they will be dealt with appropriately too."
