School uniform rule - girls not allowed trousers

[Fisharefriendsnotfood]

I'm wondering if I can call on the collective wisdom of you good people to help me construct my argument in the best way.

Dd (5) and yr 1 attends a local R.C primary school that I am more than happy with. She suffers from recurrent thrush and this year I noticed that when she wore tights under her pinafore it seemed to exasperate the problem. I checked the school prospectus for details because I have never seen a girl in trousers at the school and it states that girls must wear a pinafore or skirt as school uniform..

I then emailed the head and explained the issue and asked for clarification on the rules and she said that the last time the issue came before the chair of governors they decided not to introduce trousers as part of the girls uniform. She was very sympathetic and pleasant and said that if I got a doctors letter perhaps she.could allow it.

Now, there is no way dd would wear trousers if no one else was and I also feel that this would high light the issue / invite questions into something that is no one else's business.

So if you are still with me, I want to get the issue raised again with the chair of governors because I cannot think of any valid reason in this day and age why girls should not wear trousers if the want to. I have to speak at a parent voice meeting and if I can muster enough support the issue will be on the agenda of the next governors meeting where I can present my argument.

Where to start? Can anyone offer pointers?

Sorry for the essay

Sorry to hear they're being so slow.

I have been thinking about this a lot too - got to do school run but will come back later!

Did MNHQ get back to you about your idea for a campaign OP?

Tradition is a stupid argument for a primary school when only 30 years ago it was normal for primary schools not to have a uniform at all. So this tradition is how old exactly?

I hate school uniforms for this age group (and I speak as a hand-me-downs girl who didn't half hear about it).

I am right behind you Fish - it makes my blood boil. Two RC schools near us are the same and it put me right off them. (we are RC)
Skirts and PINK gingham dresses only for girls. Jumpers for boys, cardis for girls. White knee sock, no practical grey socks for girls.
My DD (4) hates skirts and dresses. She is utterly sad if made to wear one. She is always covered in mud and wears boys trainer type shoes.
It definitely influenced my choice of school as it was about the overall attitude to girls. I visited the 2 schools and found them formal and old fashioned in other ways e.g. different sports for boy and girls

Her school is mixed ethnically and they can all wear any combination of the uniform. They all wear polos, fleeces, cardis or jumpers. She wears long culottes (as do many of her friends) then tailored trousers in the winter. She wears shorts in the summer. She has optional gingham dresses but only wears on the odd occasion. A boy in her class laughed at seeing her knickers and teased her, so that was the end of them...

I do think its a serious issue that needs challenging - there was a long tread about it in Primary Ed recently.

Update:

I have stayed away from this because The Times were interested in running an article on this. Photographer to house etc. It was supposed to run on Saturday but got reduced to a tiny snippet.. Now they won't run full story. Head is going insane because they contacted her for a quote so she knew about it.

She told me today I had to right to threaten the good rep of school etc and I said it's all the truth and I wasn't going to apologise or drop it. She told me I should find a school I agreed with and take my children and get out .

Can't believe it. Such such hypocritical bigots

What the hell? That's awful Fish. You haven't done anything wrong.

What are you going to do next?

Try and get hq behind a campaign? I don't know.. I'm losing the will to love

Wow. Just adds weight to your argument. But unless you get the backing of other parents you might find it hard to keep going. Can you drum up support? This is something that need high level backing. What about your mp?

Will to live

If they think they are doing the right thing...how is it ruining the reputation of the school!?

Surely they should be proud to have an article discussing their "traditional ways"

If you want a campaign maybe put this in to chat or their campaigns section with an outline explaining what you want and why? not that you shouuld have to epxlain why girls and boys have the right to the same things in 2014

I can't believe how ridiculous this is and how many schools seem to follow this line of thinking.

I would absolutely sign/support etc. any petition or campaign. It should be illegal for schools to do this.

That's what I said fed up !

The head is creating a false equivalence by telling you to find a school you "agree with", as if it's merely your opini

Oops....
...as if it's just an opinion you have and let's all agree to disagree. It's not, there is a larger principle at work - the school is at odds with societal opinion that discriminating against people on the basis of gender is wrong (in this case forcing girls to wear less practical clothing that limit their participation).

The head is also being wildly hypocritical - if the majority of parents support the tradition argument why is she worried about the publicity? Surely if she's so sure she's right she would assume the article will be greeted with choruses of support for the school. No?

Does the head seem a vindictive sort? Will there be comeback for your kids if you keep going?

Approaching the lea and mp seem like sensible next steps in the polite persistence vein.

Otherwise we could skip straight to girl's must have option to wear trousers, national campaign...

Someone's already started one here:epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/46794 only 1 Sig so far though, let me see what else I can find

Oh no hang on that one was rejected... Are you in England OP? We might have some devolved powers issues with directly appealing to the gov.

Yes I'm in England

Okay, in that case Department of Education is the top of the chain. Any petition would need to say England not UK.

Thanks

Can I ask anyone on here that would like to see a mumsnet campaign to give hq a shout please

I asked a couple days ago OP.

www.gov.uk/school-uniform

Probably best to start here. They suggest approaching the ht if you think your child is being discriminated against, but also say it is up to schools to decide if girls can wear trousers.

I'd wait until cabinet reshuffle and then write to head of dpt of education and dpt of culture/media/sport/equalities asking if it's a contradiction to allow discrimination by gender in schools...

Think more research will be needed to find appropriate policy quotes.

I am gob smacked and stunned by the HT response. I think if you go over to primary ed you would drum up lots of support. I am 150% behind this

Is there a thread about this already on Campaigns? I looked not long ago and there wasn't.

I will happily lend any support I can to this. The way the school have reacted is disgusting.