Pupils at a Bristol secondary school are being ordered to smile when a teacher asks, march in silent rows and line up for equipment inspection up to five times a day, furious parents said. The new rules at Blaise High School have already prompted a protest by parents outside the school gates, with many saying they are looking for alternative schools for their children.
Blaise High School - which changed its name from Henbury School in 2018 - already had double the number of student suspensions than any other school in Bristol, but new rules applied at the start of this year have led to parents describing it as ‘a military school’. The school is run by a multi-academy trust called the Greenshaw Learning Trust, which runs schools across the south west.
Bristol Live understands all schools in the Greenshaw group have imposed the new sets of rules, and there have already been protests at other schools, including one in Plymouth. On Monday this week, a group of parents staged a protest outside the school gates and had a brief conversation with Blaise High School’s new headteacher, Nat Nabarro.
Read next: Parents slam Bristol school after children forced to wear trousers on hottest day
However, Bristol Live has been told while the protest on Monday was reported as parents having an issue with new tighter school uniform rules, the issues parents have are much deeper than just ones of uniform or appearance, with some parents who have spoken to Bristol Live likening the school to a military boot camp.
A list of rules seen by Bristol Live details the new regime at Blaise High School, which include pupils being given detention or time in isolation for resting their chin on their hand during a lesson, or not properly marching in a straight line with classmates with what the school calls ‘pace and purpose’.
The ‘pace and purpose’ rule sees students ‘walking in a straight line, quickly and with no gaps between anyone’, before ‘standing in a straight line’. Students, including the oldest Year 11s, are ‘marched in and out of school’, and through school - all in complete silence.
During lessons, the students are expected to be a ‘quality audience’: All pens down, sitting up straight and to attention with no talking, no moving, no turning around. The students must face forward at all times and are not allowed to lean their heads on their hands or put their hand on their face during lessons, and with no talking out loud in class.
The students must also attend something called ‘roll call’ several times a day - with years 7 to 10 having roll call three times a day, and Year 11s being required to attend roll call five times a day. This involves standing silently in line while every student’s equipment and uniform is inspected. The students must offer up their pencil cases and books, and must have a specific see-through long pencil case. Failing to meet the requirements of roll call will be a detention.
Students have been given what are known as RFL cards - referral cards - which must be shown if a teacher asks for it. The students are given negative points on their referral cards for many different things like not smiling when asked to smile by teachers, or not replying properly when a teacher says ‘good morning’ to them.
The school uniform rules have been tightened up, and while they mirror similar rules in many other schools in Bristol and beyond - with rules about shoes being both black and ‘polishable’, and girls’ trousers not being ‘too tight’ - a new rule now means all students must wear the regulation green socks.
Rules on students’ appearance at Blaise High School have also been tightened up, outside of the usual school uniform. The school did have rules about earrings and make-up but these have now been extended to include no hair dye of any kind, painted nails or ‘elaborate’ make-up. Last year a pupil was sent home for wearing the "wrong kind" of black trousers but now rules are even stricter.
And at lunchtime, students must only eat if they are sitting down, and lunchtime itself has been restricted to half an hour, to allow time for the roll calls.
One parent of a Year 11 student said her daughter has been going to school for a couple of weeks and now wants to leave. “Even though it is a key year, with her GCSEs coming up, she has had enough already. It’s not any one particular rule, it’s just like it’s a military school now,” she said. “They march everywhere in silence, they can’t interact with their friends in a natural way, they are always terrified of not doing something right and getting a detention or suspension,” she added.
Blaise High School was already known as a very strict school. In 2020-21 - during the pandemic when schools were partly in lockdown for some of the time - Blaise High School recorded 600 suspensions. That figure was more than double the next highest number of suspensions at any one school.
Another parent, who declined to be named, said: “There’s a kind of military feel. The kids have to do this roll call, with everyone marching into the hall five times a day and lining up to be inspected. They can’t laugh, they can’t speak, they have to smile if a teacher orders them to smile. The Year 11 students have to stay on an extra hour at the end of each day. But what this atmosphere does is impact on the actual learning. The whole atmosphere of the school now means that the students say learning isn’t fun anymore. The way lessons are taught reflects this, and it’ll end up being bad for the children academically too,” she added.
“We had parents evening where this was all spelled out to us, and the new headteacher gave a talk which was very hot on being ‘aspirational’, and how he wanted every pupil to go to the best universities. I was left thinking that the pupils won’t even want to continue in education after their GCSEs if this is their experience of it,” she added. “It’s going to do the opposite of what they want - it’s going to put them off going to uni.”
As Henbury School, Ofsted rated the school ‘inadequate’ back in 2018, but Ofsted inspectors are yet to return for a follow-up.
The uniform rules have also been criticised by another parent. "When they switched from Henbury School to Blaise High School, they were quite good about letting students continue to wear the old uniforms and PE kits and stuff," she said. "Now, though, even the socks have to be bought through the official school uniform provider. This is a working class area. They might have changed the name from Henbury to Blaise High, but it's still the same catchment area, and people are struggling to afford to pay their bills, let along buy special green socks," she added.
Earlier in the summer - during the July heatwave which saw record-breaking temperatures - Blaise High School continued to require its pupils to wear trousers, but did allow the students to take off their blazers and unbutton the first button of their shirts.
Similar rules are being imposed in other Greenshaw Learning Trust schools across the country. The multi-academy trust has 21 schools across the south of England, including in Gloucestershire, Bristol, and three in Plymouth. In January, Business Live reported the Surrey-based MAT had accumulated a £3 million surplus on its accounts.
In Devon earlier this week, one student of a Greenshaw school in Plymouth complained to Plymouth Live about the new uniform and appearance rules which there have even banned the clear plastic ‘retainers’ which prevent ear piercing holes from closing up.
In a statement, Will Smith, the CEO of the Greenshaw Learning Trust, said: "Our expectation is that all students present themselves in line with school policies and Blaise High School offers support to all parents and students to do this.
“Student's safety and well-being are the school's top priority and if any students or parents have any concerns they should contact the school directly,” he added.
Read next
- Boy, four, died when tree fell on him on holiday
- Police appeal after person in van takes child from abandoned farm
- £1.6m Victorian-era family home in Redland is on sale for the first time in 45 years
- Sunday Times Good University Guide see UWE climb up rankings as Bristol remains among top universities
- Fashion shop that fans queued up for is opening in Bristol
