Girl put in isolation for wearing Asda skirt

[ZebraDanios]

Remember the girl who got put in isolation for wearing Vivienne Westwood shoes and everyone said quite right, uniform is there to foster equality?

This girl got put in isolation for wearing a skirt from Asda rather than the (considerably more expensive) school supplier.

It looked so much like the “accepted” skirt that a teacher had to actually check the label on the skirt.

I don’t even know where to start with this.

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/real-life/tearful-schoolgirl-12-put-isolation-27758306?fbclid=IwAR1xHZEDSoziQQZgABAyXwVxnVS0_5jYmsagX4dlokdaAH5V-i-H1AaT5gs_aem_AVe2g7zlmL1QO0M8PMPIoJcSpZNkCsCbzuXbAkVrfVrr35xE59pApNSSjTcKKFnbaZA#lmvuwx3o8t1y29p0e3x

I thought they banned this- that now you didn't need to get uniform from a named supplier?

The school is in breach of statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms that was introduced in November 2021 (statutory guidance is not just guidance - it is as close as you can get to law without actually being law). The guidance states that, "Parents should be able to purchase generic items of uniform from a range of retailers giving them choice and value for money." The skirt is clearly a generic item, so the school should not stipulate that it must be purchased from a particular supplier.

The school concerned allows pupils to wear trousers from any supplier. As skirts are usually worn by girls, this may also be a breach of the Equality Act.

If this is really how it happened it's a disgrace.
It's about time (some) schools treated teenagers like students rather than inmates. No wonder they lose respect for their teachers.

Tbh, school pettiness over uniform is not new. Back in the dark ages when I was at school one of the assistant heads used to insist that people pulled up their jumpers to prove that their shirts were tucked in. Because it matters whether they’re tucked in when you can’t see either way under a jumper. I can totally imagine her loving being allowed to check people’s labels to make sure it’s the right brand of skirt.

It’s especially petty as there is no legal requirement to wear school uniform in Scotland. State schools cannot exclude children for not wearing their specified uniform.

This article is clear that there is no legal basis for enforcing a school dress code in Scotland. https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/19954324.scots-childrens-commissioner-warns-strict-policies-wearing-school-uniform-unlawful

It’s especially petty as there is no legal requirement to wear school uniform in Scotland.

If you read the article, the school in question is Holderness Academy in Hull, England

Reading the article, the issue seems to have been not the cost of the official skirts but the fact there wasn't one with a small enough waistband to fit - which seems odd. I could understand if cost was the reason, but it's not difficult to take in the waistband of a skirt.

Why should people have to take in a waistband when they could just buy one that fits?

Fine if you want to adjust clothes. But must people don’t want to.

It was all about the somewhat overweight mother insisting her daughter was too tiny to fit in the mandatory uniform. Poor normal sized kid plastered all over papers.

Well, for a start you have some leeway with a growing child to take the waist out again if needed, rather than buying a new skirt if it gets too small.

I don't believe the school skirts were all too big for her. She looks like a normal sized girl of that age.

However, lifting up blouses to check it's the correct skirt is obviously too far, if that happened. I can believe it because I know some of the checks at my kids school are OTT.

Or not being able to afford it.
It's fucking ridiculous

My DD wears the same style skirt.
The trutex ones have the adjustable elastic in the waistband but cost £24 each.

The school now actual puts the asda ones on it's list due to them being so similar but a third of the price.

The fact the teacher had to check the label is ridiculous.

Oh good grief.

The point is that the “wrong” skirt looked so much like the “right” skirt that the teacher couldn’t even tell them apart without looking at the label.

So what exactly was the outcome the school were trying to prevent? Was she stopping others learning by wearing a skirt that looked exactly like the skirt she was supposed to be wearing? Were the girls in the more expensive skirts being bullied for wearing identical skirts to her?

It’s uniform control-freakery taken to extremes that no-one in their right mind would condone.

It's even easier to buy one that doesn't need taking in in the first place. Plus the skirt is pleated and I wouldn't know how to take in a pleated skirt. Maybe I'm just very stupid.

Bonkers. If the skirt is the right colour, style and length, the school are being ridiculous. Parents should be able to buy the cheaper versions.

Tbh, school pettiness over uniform is not new.

It’s not, and people LOVE it. Every time there’s a story about someone missing a day’s school because of some tiny uniform infraction everybody says “quite right, rules and rules” and talks as though wearing socks with bows on will lead to the collapse of civilisation.

And here we are, with a girl wearing a skirt that is literally indistinguishable from the “correct” one, and people are more troubled by her mother being overweight and too lazy to take in the waistband than the fact that her teacher lifted up her shirt to look at the label of her skirt.

School uniform has got completely out of control. Parents absolutely should be able to send their children in a supermarket skirt/trousers, shirts and jumpers. If a blazer is necessary then sell a badge so that the parent can buy one that fits their budget.

I don’t believe that this girl couldn’t get a skirt that fits, I think they couldn’t afford it. No one should be punished for being poor. The teachers should be ashamed of themselves.

I wouldn’t even know where to start if I had to take in a waistband on a skirt.

Surely this is actually the key point here?

The skirt comes in a 22inch waist, so it’s very silly of them to claim they couldn’t get one to fit, but it’s a ludicrous rule, if the skirt is just the same. Academies still seem to get away with this every new school year.

Are we sure it played out like this? What if it was too short? What if when asked if she’d rolled her skirt up the girl started being defiant, answering back? Swearing? Maybe that’s why she was asked to work in an internal exclusion room (a perfectly normal acceptable area of all schools).

Me neither, and I have moderately dysfunctional joints which would make this difficult and painful.

I suppose I'd have to buy the more expensive skirt and pay to get this done, if the Asda solution wasn't acceptable. Seems mad.

It will be the length. The official school one will be longer no doubt and zippped at the back which makes it harder to roll up.

Then why did the teacher have to check the label rather than just noticing her skirt was too short and didn’t have a zip?