Dozens of girls sent home from school following uniform crackdown
Twm Owen, local democracy reporter
A teenage girl claims she was told to present herself to a male teacher for the length of her skirt to be measured as part of a uniform crackdown.
She is among dozens of girls sent home from school after a new acting headteacher introduced strict new rules on uniforms that parents, and a local councillor, have said are targeted at girls.
Monmouthshire council has said all matters relating to girls’ uniforms are being dealt with by female members of staff.
A letter sent to parents at Caldicot School last week insisted skirts would have to be “to the knee” and on Monday morning girls arriving for class reported being confronted with wet wipes to remove make up and nail clippers to cut their nails as well as demands that the length of their skirts are measured.
Acting headteacher Alun Ebenezer has enforced the crackdown and warned parents in the letter: “Students will not be allowed to walk around school if these guidelines are not followed.”
Physical abuse
Last year teachers at the school staged strike action claiming its leadership had failed to address verbal and physical abuse they faced.
A 14-year-old girl, who spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service with her mother’s permission but on condition of anonymity, said she was ordered to have her skirt measured by a male teacher when she arrived.
The year nine pupil said: “I walked in and a teacher said to go to Mr (male teacher) to get my skirt measured.”
The youngster said rather than present her legs for inspection she went straight to the room where pupils were being held and prevented from attending lessons. She was sent home for wearing false eyelashes.
A 13-year-old pupil, Amile, who had to be collected by her mother, Natalie Kyne, said she was also told she couldn’t attend lessons as she wore false eyelashes.
“When I got to school there were two teachers on the front door and they said ‘you’ve got eyelashes on’ and they took me to a room and there were litterally about 50 girls in that room.”
She claimed a female teacher had attempted to pull her friend’s skirt down, seemingly to stretch it, and shorts the girl was wearing underneath were briefly exposed.
Isolation rooms
Her mum said: “They’ve got all these girls in isolation rooms, they are now calling them holding rooms, for them all to be sent home. It is unfair and targeting girls. It is beyond a joke, they don’t even want to teach them.”
One father, who asked not to be named, had to collect his 15-year-old son, as his shirt was untucked, and 13-year-old daughter due to the length of her skirt.
He said they have been threatened with exclusion from the school over what the school is claiming is a breach of the uniform standards.
The dad said his older child, who is 15 and in year 10, was told she could sit her GCSE exam but would be sent home afterwards.
He said: “They have a right to an education and the head also tried to tell me it was a health and safety risk. It’s totally pathetic. They say they want them to look smart but they’ll not have any smart kids if they do not get an education.”
Kevin Price, of Caldicot, collected his daughter from school over the length of her skirt and said he was told up to 200 pupils had been denied entry to classes. He said pupils and parents were in tears.
Mr Price demanded the school provide him, in writing, the reason his daughter was being denied an education and said: “I’ve told them emotional harm is being caused to children today and none of them have raised their voice against it.”
Targeted
Councillor Rachel Garrick, Labour councillor for Caldicot, said she was concerned a series of uniform standards, related to make up, nails, and skirts, is targeted at girls and threatening them with removal of their education.
She said: “I always get concerned at a list of reasons to remove education from children that appears focused on gender. It feels very much like girls bodies are being considered more than their right to an education.”
A spokesperson for Monmouthshire council said: “We are aware that this morning, Caldicot School staff have been more rigorous in implementing the school’s uniform policy as published on the school’s website.
“The acting headteacher wrote to all parents and carers last week setting out that this would be the case as of this morning.
“With regards to the specific question regarding the length of skirts in school; all matters relating to girls’ uniforms are being dealt with by female members of staff.”
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Shocking, the head is demonstrating exactly the behaviours exhibited by the convicted Gwynedd Headteacher Foden, which he used as cover for his sick grooming, a very unhealthy obession with skirt length, make up and nails,
At the least, are our schools in the business of turning out drones ?
Mmm! You may wish to reconsider this comment through the lens of the law of defamation.
‘Acting’…like a tyrant, this ain’t the 60’s…
It’s always ‘Monmouthshire’…
The rules are clear. They may not be sensible or ones that I would agree with but they are the rules of the school. Why do parents think that the sartorial needs of their little princelings trump those rules?
The parents should be saying sorry, but the rules are clear – comply with them. If you don’t like them, petition the governing body, make a case to the headteacher for sensible changes, if need be take legal action. But, in the meanwhile, STFU and don’t think that the rules apply to everyone else but you.
Schools have uniform policies. Parents, when they send their children to the school, agree to comply with those policies. It won’t harm children “emotionally” to wear a uniform, it will prepare them for the world of work. When I started teaching, many moons ago, I remember a very wise colleague saying to me: “if you let uniform standards drop, bad behaviour will follow”. She was correct, and I have seen this happen over the years at the schools I have worked at and worked with. I have also witnessed behaviour improving when uniform standards were enforced. We should support the… Read more »
Parents have no other option though do they. Uniforms are very expensive and rob the young of discovering their look. I went to schools with uniform, peanuted ties everywhere and teachers obsessed with how you look while bullying rife. And one with more casual clothing and the standard of behaviour was higher and natural relationship between pupil and teachers better. Because teachers could concentrate on the pupils needs, not bark orders sent from a creepy man in an office.
I understand your point, and to an extent I think you are correct about teacher priorities. However, schools in Wales do have uniform policies and parents sign up to these, so are obligated to follow them. There are grants to assist parents who are struggling. You either have a uniform, and enforce it or you don’t have one at all. Teenagers are often looking for ways to rebel, and I have found, through many years of teaching, that if you let go of the smaller issues, like uniform, some teenagers will then push their rebellion further and much bigger, more… Read more »
And do parents have no option but to pay for false eyelashes and makeup? Is the uniform somehow cheaper if the little oik has to tuck his shirt in?
They can ‘discover their look’ in their own time in the evenings, weekends and school holidays.
Has an ex school governor the use of a standard school uniform was that the children would all look smart and well dressed dispite their parents or guardian income. Parents of children who are on low incomes receive grants to buy uniforms.
Same issue in many schools. Garth Olwg for instance in RCT has an obsession with black socks, robbing any last bit of individuality. And the unsafe rule of black coats on dark winter mornings. And lets not forget the clear pencil cases. They can tell if a skirt is to short, no need to measure up close. I wonder how good the results are at this school or the behaviour of pupils, because thats all I care as a parent. Safe space to learn to your potential. Everything else is creepy.
You are going to school to learn. Your individuality is for out of school time.
It’s human nature to show individual creativity. Why try to crush it out of people?
‘… for the length of her skirt to be measured as part of a uniform crackdown.’ This issue crops up in secondary schools every time the fashion gurus raise hemlines once again., which doesn’t seem to have happened for quite a while now. I live at the opposite end of Wales to Caldicot, and short skirts have recently appeared in our local high schools in like manner. Instead of certain school management teams getting into a panic over skirt lengths every time this happens, why not just make trousers required standard school uniform for girls as well as for boys?… Read more »
A very sensible suggestion.
My thought was in part prompted by the memory that, way back when I was young, 1950s-style ‘pretty’ nurses’ uniforms appeared to be a turn-on for certain males.
But now that nurses in hospitals are universally garbed in drab ‘scrubs’, that Benny Hill-style whimsical allure seems to have become entirely obsolete.
And if that proved to be the case in that instance, why not in this one?
And said trousers to be trousers and not skinny trousers showing off the crutch and knicker line
Probably! I’m sure that any policy, however pragmatic, will be challenged and need to be refined sometimes ….
Uniforms…
We are marching as to war
But we are really fighting for
Our uniform-our uniform
Pete Townshend…
Just a uniformed brick in the wall…a brick wall or a dry stone wall…which is the more attractive ?
Sorry but I agree with the head teacher. If girls have to wear shorts under skirts to cover their knickers the skirts are too short. As for false eye lashes. Why? Makeup. Why? It’s not a fashion show its a place of learning. Of course they are concentrating on girls. Are boys wearing makeup, false eye lashes or short skirts? I constantly see girls tugging their belts (skirts) down so they are aware too it is too short. I am with the head teacher all the way