Whitstable school's potential gender neutral uniform has parents opinions split

KentOnline / KMTV

The idea pitched to parents, of having all students at The Whitstable School wear trousers, comes after the school faced repeated issues with the length of pupils' skirts, with local residents even sending complaints.  Finn Macdiarmid reports...

Transcript

00:00Parents everywhere will know the difficulty of buying school uniforms and making sure

00:04that their children wear them right, but for one school in Kent, the issue doesn't just

00:09end at the school gates.

00:11The Whitstable school say they've been having issues with students pulling up their skirts

00:14to inappropriate lengths.

00:16They sent out an email to parents and carers recently which said,

00:19"...as part of our commitment to maintaining high standards and promoting inclusivity,

00:23I'm considering a transition from skirts to trousers as a gender-neutral uniform for all

00:28students. However, I will not change the uniform without the support of parents."

00:32The letter went on to say the main reasons behind the proposal were that a growing number

00:36of students were wearing skirts that just didn't meet the uniform requirements, resulting

00:40in frequent reminders from staff and creating unnecessary conflict in the classroom.

00:45They said they'd also received complaints from local residents, businesses and parents

00:48about skirt lengths, and some students even came forward saying they feel pressured to

00:52wear their skirts shorter than the policy allows, contributing to discomfort, anxiety

00:57and self-consciousness.

00:59Some believe that the issue of the short skirts is such a bad one that it's almost creating

01:03a culture within the school of bullying.

01:05Now, other parents, on the other hand, believe that their children should be able to wear

01:09whatever they want, and it's created a very divided opinion on the whole matter.

01:14I agree with it, basically because they're too short.

01:18I know in my day you did wear short skirts, but you had tights on.

01:24I think they'd be better wearing trousers, girls, personally, because they are a bit

01:28near the mark.

01:29Yeah.

01:30It's just dangerous for girls to walk around like that, really.

01:35I wouldn't let my daughter do it, no way.

01:38Personally, I can't see that trying to get all the kids to wear trousers is particularly

01:43gender neutral, because trousers would be synonymous with boys at a secondary school,

01:50or any particular school.

01:52So I don't quite understand how that in itself can be gender neutral.

01:57I spoke to the headmaster, Alex Holmes, who said that the school would be releasing a

02:01statement on the topic, but reiterated the email was only intended to get the views of

02:05the parents, and no concrete ideas would be put into place yet.

02:09But in the letter to parents he also said that the efforts to enforce the current uniform

02:12policy weren't having much effect on the uniform problem, which was beginning to impact the

02:17school's student experience and reputation.

02:19Finn McDermid for KMTV in Whitstable.

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