A school has banned all pupils from wearing skirts under the new ‘gender neutral’ rules it has introduced.
The school has carried out sweeping changes to its school structure which includes new rules about what students can and cannot wear.
This means all students, boys and girls alike, are now barred from wearing skirts, meaning they all must wear trousers, Devon Live reported.
Tiverton High School in Devon, sent a letter to pupils’ parents on June 9, informing them of the changes and “modifications” to its uniform policy from September onwards.
The new rules are to enforce a “more gender-neutral uniform policy”.
This reportedly came about in response to the persistent issue of skirts being worn shorter than the rules allowed.
Mrs Crook said: "We never take decisions like this lightly and go through a detailed process over time in order to come to the right conclusions for our students and the school; decisions that meet our legal obligations, and the standards expected in secondary education.
“This change to uniform policy has the approval of our governors, and balances the demands placed on us in matters including standards of education, parental cost, inclusivity and student health.
"By moving to 'trousers only' we have particularly responded to the 'trend' for girls in the school to abuse the current policy and wear approved skirts shorter than they should, in and out of school."
The policy is knee-length skirts and she said students wearing them shorter had attracted numerous complaints from the public and visitors alike.
She continued: "It has proven time consuming and frustrating for staff to enforce in-school and is beyond our control out of school.
“We wrote to parents in November about our concerns and expectations around skirts, and in January we held a series of assemblies with all year groups about skirts, advising them that unless the uniform policy was properly observed we would move to an all trousers policy.
"Our current policy has allowed girls to wear trousers, which many do already, and boys have been able to wear skirts if they want to. Trousers also standardise how our students dress, so that we and they can focus on what we consider to be our primary objective: learning.
"We have not limited availability of trousers to one brand, and have made suggestions that give parents options around price and fit, and on the whole trousers should prove a cheaper option than skirts. Our Year 10s are also working on a project to source further options that overcome personal demands for clothing that's sustainably and fairly sourced.
"It is in our existing policy that shorts can be worn in the summer term and this will not change, and there is no change to our policy around sports skirts. We will consider and respond to individual circumstances, as we have always done, where there is medical or other need."
She added that the school has chosen a different supplier for its PE uniform to make it more affordable than the previous kit and so that families can access it from an outlet in Exeter to enable students to try items on.
Regarding the changes to school uniform, headteacher Sammy Crook said in a letter: "We will follow other secondary schools in implementing a more gender-neutral uniform policy.
"Parents/carers will be pleased to know that the majority of the uniform will remain as it is, with the exception that from September all students will be expected to wear trousers."
