Merseyside pupils 'humiliated' by school skirt-length inspections

[SerendipityJane]

Probably too many questions to write in this space, but (a) would it have been acceptable if if was only female teachers that were doing the inspecting. and (b) what would the definition of female be in this case.

I guess my main question of when the fuck did it become 1923 is quite low in the list

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-64743377

Female pupils say they have been left "humiliated" over enforcement of a uniform policy at a Merseyside school.

Girls have been made to enter Rainford High School in St Helens separately to boys and have had their skirt length inspected by male teachers, they claim.

Largely I believe a uniform is a uniform and you either wear the uniform of the school you/your parents choose to attend - including any rules about length of skirt or find another school.

But their reasoning is absolutely ridiculous - they’re concerned because short skirts make sitting precarious? Just come right out and say you blame the girls short skirts for distracting the poor boys ffs.

I don't understand why the girls are upset at being segregated, the boys won't be wearing skirts and don't need to be checked.

The dad in the article sounds like an idiot too.

I'm sick of seeing girl's knickers on class. If you can't sit down without flashing your underwear then your skirt is too short, it's not difficult to understand.

All students wear trousers. Uniform problem solved.

I must admit to being shocked when I see some schoolgirls walking about in their uniforms; skirts barely covering their backsides. This really can't comply with any school uniform policy and I don't think the school in this article is wrong to enforce it.

It all seems a big of an over reaction.

A girl shouldn't feel uncomfortable having her skirt length checked if its below the knee. Surely it only takes a quick glance.

Our school does the same thing. They are fighting a constant battle with kids refusing the proper uniform.
Those girls and their parents know the uniform rules.

Thing is they don't need to segregate or make a massive deal of it. Its obvious when a skirt is waaay too short just notify that childs parents/guardians and do whatever the school rules are about uniform.
My DD said they have this routine at her school in tutor group where they make the girls stand up and the male teacher "inspects them" for skirt length! Not on in my opinion.
Surely the teachers can just make a note of any they see that are ridiculously short and send the note home.
Why the whole stand up lets all look at you and stare at your skirts today? So outdated. Do they get the lads to stand up and check they have the right uniform on? Correct footwear and shirts etc? No.

What a mountain out of a molehill.

We all rolled out skirts back in the early 90s and I'm sure it was going on long before then but we rolled them on the way to and from not in school. The kids here have taken it to extremes though.

Uniform trousers are hideous, the only girls that wear them at my girls' school wear them for religious reasons.

Uniform policies should be enforced or they are pointless, accept the policy or send your child somewhere else. If a student is breaking the rules then they should suck it up if they are pulled up on it.

I can't get riled up about this.

I'm in my 50s and we used to hitch our skirts up when walking to and from school.

If we were silly enough to enter the school gates without having pulled them down again, the teachers would tell us to do so.

Strangely enough, it never made the news 🙄😂

X posted but yes, I was at school in the 1980s and it went on long before that.

I dont think schools can win. They ask parents to supply skirts of a certain length, for what ever reason they don't so school do something about it and school are in the wrong.
I see it as if you go to a school with a set of rules you have to abide by them because that's what you signed up for. You can't decide that your only going to follow some rules. If there's a rule your not happy with oen communication should be the way forward not disregarding the ones you don't want to follow. This is what we need to teach children ready for adult working life.
Teachers need to be teaching not disciplining rule breakers. My dc school were looking at making students buy a specific skirt pre pandemic because the problem was escalating they put the decision off but have sent a strongly worded letter to say if you don't comply they'll have to bring it in.
I'm on the fence about school uniform in general because there's lots of pros and cons however why is it OK for this rule to be broken without consequences but not others?
Re male teachers probably not a good idea, female staff could have been used. Re singling the girls from boys, I don't think they were they were segregating trouser and skirt wearers.

Reminds me of our (early 1970s) headteacher telling us that skirts should be long enough to be seen beneath our blazers (mid thigh). Did hear rumours that one school made girls line up to check but never substantiated.

We had to kneel down and our skirt had to touch the ground.
Didn't stop us rolling it up the minute we left the room

The only thing that they got wrong was male teachers doing this ensuring rule,

They should have sent letters home for school pupils to say to emphasis the school wear rules

Non of this Woke Crap snow flake nonsense crap on a issue like this,

As idea of school uniform is to prepare them for idea of world of work

It's to ensure that pupils feel they belong to the school

It's to ensure they all fit in to a particular school

That it doesn't become a fashion show or something else that, puts poorer less affluent pupils at a disvantage,
that they can not afford so easily brand wear clothing /coats shoes

Grow up

No wonder children feel so entitled these days about everything and anything
You reap what you sow in this life

In the 90s, our skirt length was approved by demonstrating that if we knelt down, the skirt would touch the floor.

I live near 5 secondary schools 1 super selective girls grammar 2 coed and 2 boys grammars.

The girls at the grammar schools if you walk behind some of them you can literally see their knickers without even trying hard. I had belts in the 80s that were wider and covered more than these skirts does.

Both coeds are religious schools (1CofE 1 Catholic) whilst the girls there roll their skirts they don't go to belt standards. My youngest went to the CofE and I have done some placement work at the Catholic school. I know both regularly give detentions and send letters home if the skirts are too short. Dd3 used to think they were way to strict.

Now mine are 19 21 23 and 25 they comment on the girls with the highly rolled skirts stating it looks horrid. They can see it now. They couldn't back then.

I am within reason of the view if you attend a school you adhere to the policies or you do positive work to change those policies.

Will stress here I don't think it's the single sex or the super selective that's the issue here I simply used it to make it clear what school I was talking about.

Female staff and in a private room I should add

I have sympathy with both the school and the girls.

My daughters school does these checks. They seem to be done by 2 members of staff who are both male usually, which does seem an odd choice when there are plenty of female staff members.

My daughters school have a specific skirt only available from uniform shops. They are available in two lengths but there’s not much difference in them.

Some girls roll them up and it’s very obvious who those girls are and I agree the school should crack down on them.

But girls like my daughter wear the longer length skirt which still comes a couple of inches above the knee when the school says it should be on the knee. My daughter is average height and wears the longer length so what the fuck are we meant to do. My daughter has autism and is very much a rule follower but finds the attention of the skirt inspection in a large group uncomfortable.

Maybe female teachers doing it with smaller groups of girls would be better. But to be honest, the girls who roll them up, just roll them down for the inspection anyway so many girls feel it ends up with 2 male members of staff just looking at their legs being told ‘it should be an inch longer’, but this is the length the skirts are on average height girls when worn properly.

Maybe there's just a lack of available female teachers to check skirt lengths, who knows?

I'd advise anyone who had a problem with that, to ensure their skirt was worn at the correct length.

@DrWhoNowww

I really don't want to see any school girls underwear really

Grow up

People like you and the Dad of this school girl complaining about rules regarding about school wear

Are the ones who are really part of this problem

Obviously teenagers are going to push the rules it's part of natural process of growing up
It's allways been the same

Note to single Dad in news story

Who thinks 🤔 that maybe complaining if he is single parent Dad it will make him of have a positive impression on feminists or something,

Yawn 🥱 so predictable

Shocked at the replies to this. I think it's appalling. But I school uniforms these days are ridiculous anyway.

Schools are wondering why their pupils have high rates of anxiety and high persistent absence rates, and yet they pull stunts like this.

And it's NOT the kids who are wearing the mini skirts that will be affected by this sort of thing, but the more sensitive ones who are following the rules and feel awkward having their clothing checked over by an adult male teacher.

Oh give over.

If a skirt is obviously being worn at the correct length, there'll be no need to check it, as it's right there before your eyes 🙄

This didn't cause 'high rates of anxiety' for anyone I knew at school because if it did, they wouldn't be so stupid as to wear their skirt short.

But see my post. Only 1 school skirt acceptable, available in 2 lengths. For skirts to be on the knee as our school requests, they need to be made longer and that’s for a girl of average height, just under 5’5.