Headteacher backtracks after calling for 'gender neutral' uniform

[hellooooooomama]

He was going to ban skirts.

Parental feedback was not sought initially, but they've had plenty of it since the change was announced!

My opinion. Police the children effectively if they're not wearing it properly. Don't punish the girls who are following the rules.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9915zgvjk4o?at_link_id=743ED69C-41D3-11F0-AA25-C9355B601FDF&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_ptr_name=facebook_page&at_link_origin=BBC_Essex&at_link_type=web_link&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_medium=social&at_format=image&at_campaign_type=owned&fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKuxqJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHk6aensTQMd06TSswic5MxNQHZ2Ru4bMWTwlqBl_l3XOBjgDph5zvELMd7g9_aem_wrAH7AjLCJqPj7Nn6TwJcg

Oh yes - the era of the midi-skirt fashion. Where it was unacceptable to schools as apparently longer skirts were "dangerous".

I agree.
It’s not like the world of work where girls can look for school trousers in lots of different shops- most school wear manufacturers use the same measurements.

The school my dd went to used to police tightness of school trousers. Fine if you don’t have hips yet but embarrassing to be grilled on whether your trousers are leggings because they are too tight. There are different fits for boys trousers (skinny, regular, plus fit) but there isn’t for girls trousers probably because they go through puberty at different times. Ones that fit at the waist don’t always fit the hips and bum and who wants to wear ill fitting uniform? Skirts are easier to get a good fit if they are A-line and they hide the bum better.

If you look at pictures of children from the days photography first appeared and through the decades, you'll find girls wearing extremely short skirts well before the "mini skirt" for women was designed.
Police your boys' and male teachers thoughts and behaviour', not the length of girls skirts. Girls can wear what they like and it's fine, it harms nobody.
This man isn't even ashamed of his mysoginist views and a filthy mind and he shouldn't be working in this role.
I guess you don't think he's wrong and sexist or you wouldn't have put your kids in the school where they chose a male to preside over the mostly female teachers. It started with views like this...

I don't expect it's well received.

I'm now wondering if it's a clever move in that, the school can now say - you nearly lost them that time. Wear them correctly or we'll remove them from uniform altogether.

It’s a good school. And a reasonable suggestion. For many lessons in school you need confident freedom of movement that you just don’t get with a rolled up skirt.
Anyone saying ‘just discipline them’ well that’s what schools have been doing. But it’s ineffective.
I’d actually prefer the no uniform model (non-uniform days suggest the problem would all but vanish), but that doesn’t play well with parents.

OP You have no idea.

And it is not the same as any other uniform infringement either. No one has ever called me a perv and said I shouldn’t be looking for telling them to tuck their shirt in.

And people saying teenage girls should be allowed to show their arses in my workplace? I’m not a bloke, I’m not sexually interested in teeenage girls and I don’t want to see children’s bottoms as they walk up the stairs to my classroom. Stop trying to frame this entirely reasonable objection as something that isn’t really a problem.

The only 'gender neutral' uniform I have seen that I think is appropriate was a NZ school. The options were a kilt, shorts or trousers.

@Davros we must be a similar age, our uniform was 'knee length' skirt and we all hated it.

So girls are ashamed of movement because of those men and boys might look and make them feel uncomfortable? So the issue is with men and boys?

Trousers aren't the problem, removing a traditional option for girls and calling it 'neutral' is.

You know very well they won't show their arse in your workplace, and neither do these girls.

Anyone else manage to make it through school with a rolled up skirt and without the gates of hell opening on them?

This isn’t true. Some girls wear their skirts so short you can see their arse, particularly when walking up stairs.

Well I'm not going to disagree with any of that, but it is not the reality at the chalkface in a lot of schools and wishing it was so will not make it happen. The system is littered with weak, ineffective Heads

BettyBooper

it's not a job, they don't have a choice. And it's about the length of it which has all the girl body shaming implications which is harmful for everyone.

I'm an adult and decent, well-fitting AND affordable trousers are an absolute dick to find. My daughter is 10 and we have found one retailer that has trousers that fit her, and even then they're slightly lower on the waist than she would prefer. She's starting to curve at the hips so they're probably out for next year. People seem to think trousers automatically means comfortable and practical but that's often just not the reality.

And so what, everyone has one?

I live next to a high school and have noticed that the girls have very short skirts - as they did when I was at school 30 years ago. What I have also done is manage not to gawk at them, judge them or shame them.

I've seen girls walking home from school. They are rolling that high. The school brought in thick black tights because they realised that they utimately couldn't stop the rolling, but they could stop crotches and buttocks from being quite so visible.

Its definitely not just about pervy boys and male teachers. Or promoting modesty. Its about not seeing arse cheeks and worse which is a reality.

These are under 16s. Schools should consider a degree of actual safeguarding here.

After 16 or outside school not in uniform (thus outside the schools responsibility and association with the school) its the girl's choice / the responsibility of parents.

Regulate and police men and their bodies and minds? Perhaps some kind of electric shock once they get a filthy thought? Women have been through a lot more inconvenience than that through thr ages to save men from.shit.

The issues are that the school didn't consult on the change in the first place and that there is no phasing in of the change so that girls who already own skirts that fit can continue to wear them. The skirts were a branded item so hard to sell on.

A gender neutral uniform can include skirts as long as boys can wear them too.

The problem is girls rolling their skirts so short that their sanitary towel is visible. I've got secondary age kids and this is a massive problem in all year groups. I am so over seeing girls' knickers.

It's school uniform, it doesn't need to be flattering.

Girls, unfortunately, are the problem here.

Our greatgramdmothers and grreargrandfathers in this part of the world fought and died to not have to have modesty.

Its not the item of clothing that makes men do things.

However, there is still a problem that pervs can profit/bully from taking photos which can't be erased.

Given how short some girls are going, yes I do think theres some responsibility and safeguarding issues here that are not to do with 'body shaming'.

So we make such a photo taking a criminal offense (which i think it is) and deal with it properly and not support the whiney snowflakes that come on here to whinge about their son caught with such images and help them reduce punishment? Or do we attack girls and their clothing choices?

They were adults.

These are children.

There is a difference between fighting against repressive modesty and being an underage child in a state of public indecency.

Are you able to maybe understand this isn't an either/or situation and that maybe kids deserve people to protect their long term interests and immediate emotional well being.