To have an allergic reaction to this letter from school - is it misguided?

[Somethingtodo]

I am fully supportive of a uniform policy and enforcing it - but fond the language below offensive for some reason - like to girls are to blame for sexual predators....how should I respond - want to make a point in a reasonable rational way...

Dear Parent/Guardian,
Urgent: Appropriate Uniform Standards
Unfortunately, I am forced to write to you again to request that you support our drive for every student to
attend school appropriately dressed. We must ask you to review the uniform your child has to ensure, for
instance, that skirts are of the appropriate length of decency. The school policy has always been that the
skirt needs to be knee length but some of our female students are not dressed appropriately with a normal
and reasonable standard of modesty. This is unacceptable and a safeguarding concern as some are
indecently placed halfway up the thigh. From next Monday 26th January 2015 I will strictly enforce this
basic expectation and any student wearing a skirt at an inappropriate length above their knee will be
issued with a serious sanction for flouting school expectations. I appreciate your full support in this as we
are work together to keep students safe.

My daughters school had this and we were always getting letters, in which threat of exclusion (even from taking exams) was made for a skirt that was too short. These short skirts were neartly always worn with opaques and looked a damn sight better than the draggly long rags the Muslim girls were allowed to wear. Of course nothing was ever said to them.

And also a skirt that starts out knee length can soon become short if a girl has a growth spurt.

I find the remark about 'Muslim rags' really offensive.

offensive term.yes, but this happened at my old school too.

told off for shirt skirts. switched to long skirts like the Muslim. children wore. told off for having skirts to long.

and worst of all we weren't allowed trousers.

It was just incredibly unfair that we could wear the same skirt and it not be ok.

except they were perfectly smart skirts. not rags.

and no, no one said anything to other kids because they obviously had no choice but to wear the long skirts. Our objection was the s exist policy that dictated girls couldn't wear trousers. now that pissed us all off!!!

For the love of god. I'd be removing my child from a school with a head teacher that stupid.

Send him that.

I found the best way to circumvent school uniform rules in the 1970s was to go braless. It is a delightfully subversive option. I recommend it particularly in conjunction with getting the second best O level/ GCSE results in your year as it makes it even harder for prurient teachers to carp at you.

I hate school uniforms with passion. If kids could wear normal clothes to school, it would save lots of meaningless hassle

There's no meaningless hassle involved in wearing uniform, if as one poster says it is uniform literally.

My son's was dead easy , you bought the stuff from the uniform suppliers, no thinking involved. No faffing around in the morning and they all looked the same. Bright and shiny in long shorts and too big blazers P1 getting increasingly dishevelled by Secondary 6 in.

The girls wore knee length kilts, trousers not allowed. It's a distinctive uniform and can't recall there being any issues over skirt lengths.

Oh that letter is rubbish. All they need to say is rules are rules. We got told off for son's purple hair , fair enough.

Betcha the kilts got rolled up at the waist.

Not that I noticed, either at school or out. The kilts are proper kilts, lots of heavy pleats, probably makes rolling them up enough to make a difference quite difficult.

I'd send one back saying that you understand the need for all students to dress appropriately for the environment but asking for clarification of the 'safeguarding' issue.

Are girls not being kept safe in school? How is a short skirt going to make them unsafe? What action is being taken against teachers/staff/pupils who are making the environment unsafe for girls?

It really is pathetic. I think you should send a copy of this to everydayvictimblaming

I don't think Newlywed is implying that visitors will be attracted to the girls in short skirts, but rather that it is embarrassing to be looking at someone's knickers when in a room with them and difficult for staff to broach this for fear of allegations of inappropriate behaviour. I have to regularly speak to girls whose skirts are so short they are flashing their knickers walking up the stairs, this is embarrassing for anyone walking behind, the same as it would be if it happened in town etc. Teen girls don't all have a sense of modesty and some don't see this as an issue, but it is. Male staff walking behind them are in a vulnerable position, simply because of accusations from said girls that the staff are looking at their knickers, which in some circumstances is unavoidable. Staff and parents should be talking to girls about appropriate clothing, just as I would be spoken to if I chose to show my knickers walking up the stairs in my work place, so should they in a school.

Ignorant content aside, the letter is really badly written and sounds completely unprofessional. If the Head wrote that, I'd be seriously annoyed.

Some of the girls (and boys) at DS school look like they are going clubbing rather than school. I would welcome a strongly enforced uniform policy. Whilst girls should be able to dress as they wish and be safe is there any point in attracting potentially unwanted attention whilst walking to and from school on dark mornings and evenings?

I would be sending a reply to that letter stating that I am happy to comply with the school uniform policy, as all parents should be, but requesting a meeting to discuss the way the letter has been written.

HT sounds like an absolute twat.

Boys and girls can attract "potentially unwanted attention whilst walking to and from school on dark mornings and evenings" no matter what they're wearing.

Also, "safeguarding" implies it's the children who need safeguarding, not the teachers. If an accusation is made by a girl who wears a short skirt, is it not taken as seriously as one made by a girl who wears a knee length one?

maybe the 'safeguarding' is safeguarding young boys? I would not want my 11 yo DS being exposed to lots of 16yo girl flesh and knicker flashes

What will happen to him if he sees too much flesh? Do you have to keep him away from beaches in summer?

The children are responsible for themselves. not your feelings.

what would your son need protecting from exactly. can he not control his eyes?

I don't have AN 11 yo son so I was speaking hypothetically, but I don't think most parents would want their little boys exposed to older teenagers dressed like hookers.

older teenagers dressed like hookers.

Gross way to speak about children.

chocolover - you think wearing a short skirt = looking like a prostitute? Dear God...

Believe me if a CHILD went to school genuinely looking like a prostitute the HT would be calling SS immediately.

Then you better go join some cult where they wear robes or something because society will dress how they bloody well like.

It's on you to teach your son how to behave

how exactly do hookers (eurgh horrible term) dress like?
they are schoolchildren ffs