Change to school PE kit, does this sound reasonable?

[lucie8881]

Not sure whether I’m missing something glaringly obvious so I thought I’d see what others opinions are on this. For background, my 2 daughters attend the same high school, one in year 10, the other year 8. The basic PE kit comprises of a polo shirt to be worn with either shorts, tracksuit bottoms or a skort. The skort was introduced three years ago, it’s a short a-line style gym skirt with integrated cycling shorts. All the kit has the school emblem and colours and can only be purchased through one supplier specified by the school. Due to coronavirus precautions in place, on PE days, children are to attend school in their PE kits with their blazer over the top.

At the start of the school year I asked my daughters what their preference was for PE kit and both opted for a skort and a pair of tracksuit bottoms, for when the weather was cooler. However, my eldest DD has had a growth spurt so her tracksuit bottoms are now too small.

During the summer holidays last year a new head teacher came into position, and from the outset he seems to have taken issue with the skorts. On several occasions he has asked girls to pull the skorts down as they are too short. But because of the integrated shorts you can’t really make them longer or shorter.

Then this afternoon I receive an email from the school, addressed to all parents, stating that with immediate effect skorts are not to be worn as it’s been identified as a safeguarding issue.

Now I’ve got just 2 days to get hold of some shorts for my eldest, which irritates me on a few levels. My DD has worn the shorts previously but didn’t like them as the waistband was thick and itchy and the legs were too loose fitting so we’re more revealing than she was comfortable with. Plus they’re not the cheapest and I’m not able to shop around. There’s no point buying anymore tracksuit bottoms as they are standard length and will be far too short.

I just can’t see what safeguarding issue there could be around the skorts? Unless I’m missing something?? My concern is that the change is fuelled by the head teachers own personal views on what is appropriate dress for women/girls.

I’m going to email the school tomorrow to ask whether there has been an incident that I’m not aware of that has led to the change.

Am I being unreasonable for being annoyed by the sudden change to PE kit and missing a genuine safety concern?

drawstrings in tracksuits

anything marketed at children, in children's sizes is not allowed an actual drawstring due to strangling risk.

Adult ones are allowed it. So, the simplest way of adjusting the waist is banned form school uniform (face palm)

My kids school tracksuits have always had drawstrings, ds is tiny for his age and in Year 7 wore an age 7-8 (22-24" waist)

I am 5ft so everything is always too long for me so I have probably never noticed.

DD and I are 5' 8" so notice all the time 😂

I have just looked and seen that DDs expensive logo-ed tracksuit trousers do come in different lengths though.

My 16 year olds daughter and her friends wear skirts which are aged 8, up to aged 12.

They are all very sporty and hate skirts which flap and are baggy when they are running/playing netball etc.

However, the school rule is that all pupils (boys and girls) must wear tracksuit bottoms over shorts and skirts around school or when leaving school. This rule has been in place for years.

As others have said, the safeguarding issue is a load of tripe.

A quick search reveals the option to purchase skorts in a variety of lengths. If schools feel the existing skorts are too short, they should challenge their supplier and/or require a more generic skort so parents can shop around for one that better suits their child's body shape, leg length etc.

Consideration needs to be given as to whether an item suitable for sport is also suitable for day to day wear, and why.

Presumably if the DC had swimming at school, they wouldnt be asked to dress in their swimwear all day. It's simply not a suitable daywear item. Nothing at all inappropriate about a swimming costume, but you wouldnt think it appropriate to wear one around the streets.

Maybe Skorts are just an item that is OJ that fine line between "suitable for daywear and sportswear" and "only suitable as sportswear"

how can a item of clothing be a safeguarding issue?! circumstances of a child being involved of a safeguarding issue due to the skort means they need to address the person involved, not the item! the skorts are great, very practical for them which is why olympic runners wear them, tennis players etc you cant banish an item of clothing to room 101 due to a headteacher having very bazaar views. And what an attitude to give girls, they are not responsible for other people. if females want to wear something, they have every right to wear this. stop the victim blaming and stop this generation feeling responsible for unwanted behaviour of others. stand your ground!! the school have a choice of pe kit, which helps most feel comftable in some item. and also, a school near me got a new head, changed some of the uniform but paid for all to have one of each item, except the year 7s due the next year as they hadnt bought it yet. i am not sure if this is mandatory as they had no other options so had to have the new uniform, where you can have the tracksuit or shorts, but if they change even more, look into it.

@QwertyGirly Perhaps I wasn’t clear - she’s happy (chooses) to wear light cotton leggings with her skort for travel. What she isn’t happy to do is to wear skort plus thick sports leggings or tracksuit trousers to commute when it’s really hot. She finds three layers at the waist, one of which is designed to be warm for cold weather PE, really over-heating. Maybe she’s lucky, her school is very sensible about adapting uniform for weather, so it’s not usually an issue.

@pappajonessecretchild it's a uniform. Schools have uniform rules. Girls and boys can't wear what they like.

Unfortunately we live in the real world. Catcalling isn't illegal in the UK. Upskirting was not an offence until recently. Harassment on public transport is extremely high. The schools cannot change that, but they can do what they see fit so the uniform imposed is providing a certain level of decency.

I don't know how it is where you live, but here we don't see many women in tennis skorts on London public transport.

I'm struggling to see a safeguarding issue, even with the comments received, and will be interested OP as to what response you get.

@SE13Mummy

A quick search reveals the option to purchase skorts in a variety of lengths. If schools feel the existing skorts are too short, they should challenge their supplier and/or require a more generic skort so parents can shop around for one that better suits their child's body shape, leg length etc.

Yes.

DD's school-specific one only comes in one length. If the school were to complain about this length on taller girls then they would have to find a supplier that offered them in different lengths.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Consideration needs to be given as to whether an item suitable for sport is also suitable for day to day wear, and why.

Presumably if the DC had swimming at school, they wouldnt be asked to dress in their swimwear all day. It's simply not a suitable daywear item. Nothing at all inappropriate about a swimming costume, but you wouldnt think it appropriate to wear one around the streets.

Maybe Skorts are just an item that is OJ that fine line between "suitable for daywear and sportswear" and "only suitable as sportswear"

Absolutely. Sports war isn't always suitable for wearing out and about and a swimsuit is exactly the example I was thinking of.

It isn't a matter of "safeguarding" as such, it's a matter of wearing items that are appropriate for the setting. Perhaps its considered a safeguarding issue from the school's point of view as they are the ones who have said sportswear should be worn to and from school

I don't know how it is where you live, but here we don't see many women in tennis skorts on London public transport

@QwertyGirly I live in London. In the summer I see plenty of girls and women wearing short denim shorts when out and about. How is that different?

@AintPageantMaterial

DD15 is at a girls-only school. They have a PE kit of skorts and tracksuit bottoms and we were all told back in September that they should not travel to school in the skort. They didn’t give a reason but I cannot think of another one other than safeguarding the girls from unwanted attention en route. It’s a city centre school with a high percentage of girls taking public buses or walking to school. The skorts are shorter than most shorts and I genuinely believe would result in girls being harassed (more than usual) on the way to school.

My dd is also at a girls' school and wears a skort for PE. In usual times they change for PE at school but for covid reasons they are travelling to and from school in their PE kit like many other schools. Dd has been wearing her skort rather than leggings when it's warm.

What are they supposed to wear when it's too hot for leggings?? Get hot and uncomfortable because of a MALE problem??

[quote SE13Mummy]@QwertyGirly did your school really stop the wearing of skorts because of harassment in a coffee shop ?! How disappointing that the school didn't suggest to the business owners that their customers were in the wrong for harassing children in PE kit instead of dumbing down the kit to make it less appealing to adults who can't help but harass teenage girls.

My DDs' school PE kit is pretty outdated and doesn't have anything as modern as a skort but the old-fashioned gym knickers have been upgraded to cycling shorts which are to be worn under the netball skirts. On PE days, they can choose to wear plain navy jogging bottoms or netball skirts with short cycling shorts. Local residents and businesses seem to have managed to avoid harassing the girls in PE skirts, just as they manage to avoid harassing them when they wear their regular uniform skirts.[/quote]
Completely agree @SE13Mummy Leaving aside the financial issues regarding uniform, schools need to stop asking girls to adapt their clothing to address a problem with men/boys. It sends the wrong message. Things need to change now.

My daughters (16) school give them the option of sports leggings or shorts. She always wears leggings, as.does every girl in her year. She's never too hot. I wouldn't feel comfortable with her travelling to school in a pair of shorts up her arse anyway. Its unnecessary. I don't know why all schools dont just offer the leggings.

Quick update ........ not much to report, I've sent an email and had an automated response saying they'll get back to me within 5 days.

My concern is along the same lines as PP's have mentioned. That it is more to do with policing what young women wear rather than anything to do with their actual safety.

Spoke with some other parents today. One parent of a year 10 girl relayed an incident that happened just before the Easter holidays. During PE the girls were in the field playing hockey and the boys were a short distance away on the football pitch. The boys teacher came over to the girls PE teacher to ask her to speak with her class regarding those wearing skorts, as the skirts were riding up whilst they were playing and causing a distraction to the boys. The parent went on to say that their daughter hadn't noticed any sort of untoward behaviour from the boys either before, during or after the lesson. The only indicator it was an issue was from the male PE teacher.

Now I don't know how true this story is, my daughter is not in the same class as this other girl. I do hope that it is exaggerated or even fabricated as I would be so angry to hear that this is the driving force behind the changes.

If this turns out to be the reason I think the school is also doing a huge disservice to the boys. Portraying them as some sort of feral group with no control over their own behaviours.

None of the parents I spoke with, or my own DDs, have had any issues with other kids, boys or girls. No comments, no untoward behaviours, nothing of note relating to PE kits. The only comments that have been made have come from male members of staff ..... THAT is a safeguarding issue and I don't think modifying what the girls wear is the correct way to address it.

If that is the case then I couldn’t agree with you more @lucie8881

Please let us know what the response from school is.

Any teacher who finds themselves distracted by the bare legs of their teenage students shouldn't be in the job.

On children wearing too small uniform, it's quite hard to understand school uniform sizes as they go by inches rather than height or age. My 15 year old is a 26 waist but couldn't still wear his year 7 26 waist games shorts as they would be much too short! They are not actually a men's 26, they are a boys age 12 so why not just label them as a 12? I can understand why girls are still wearing their year 7 kit if their waist hasn't changed much.

I really don't understand why anyone thought it was an issue that the skirts rode up if they were wearing shorts underneath. Distinctly weird.

It's sad that this still goes on, that women have to modify themselves because men can't be arsed to modify their behaviour and control themselves. I'm so angry reading this. Men/boys go shirtless and it's not sexualised, women show a smidge of skin and all hell breaks loose

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz a pervy male teacher is a safeguarding issue.

[quote newnortherner111]@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz a pervy male teacher is a safeguarding issue.[/quote]
Why me?

It's not just pervy male teachers though. In secondaries you wouid bpneed to consider toxic male pupils too.

The school should be sacking the former, and educating the latter.

Not just making it an issue of female sports attire