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A single mum has hit out at a school in Devon for repeatedly giving her daughter detention because the trousers they issued her “didn’t fit her right”.
Lisa Daw said her 16-year-old daughter Beth was told off for wearing the “wrong trousers” when she turned up for the first day of term at Queen Elizabeth School in Crediton.
According to Ms Daw, however, Beth had been wearing the correct type of trousers because teachers had forced her to buy them from the school’s own clothing supplier the year before.
The school reportedly claimed the trousers were “too tight”, and on Tuesday took Beth out of class to march her back to the shop the trousers came from
A shop worker was said to have told the teaching assistant who escorted Beth to the store: “She’s wearing the right ones, it’s just her just her shape,” the Plymouth Herald reported.
Beth was then allowed to return to class but when she arrived back at school a teacher allegedly told her: “They are the right material, but they don’t fit you right.”
Despite meeting with the headteacher, however, Ms Daw was told that Beth would continue to receive detentions until her trousers were changed.
Ms Daw says that because she lives on benefits she has no extra money to pay for the trousers to be replaced.
She also said the incident had made Beth self-conscious about her body.
“She’s being made to feel fat and she’s not,” Ms Daw told i on Wednesday. “In this day and age teenagers are all body conscious.
“My daughter has been saying she’s fat. She’s a size 10/12, so she’s not fat.
“I want my daughter to be proud of her shape, I can’t do anything about her thighs.
Ms Daw has urged the school to change their uniform policy and claimed hundreds of children had fallen foul of the rules since returning from the summer holidays.
“There are lots of parents who have to go and buy mens trousers for their kids because they can’t get them in the size,” she added.
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Ms Daw said she believes the school is now punishing Beth “for her parents’ misfortune” since she can’t afford to replace the trousers.
“I’ve always tried to abide by the uniform policy,” she continued. “It doesn’t matter what hurdles you jump, it just seems there’s always going to be something wrong.”
“She’s not embarrassed about her shape. She’s got wider thighs. She has had a lot of positive feedback from people she doesn’t even know.
“But we haven’t had an apology from school.”
i has contacted Queen Elizabeth School for comment.