A mother has shared her anger that girls at a secondary school are being told to stop wearing “tight” black trousers because they are reportedly “distracting teachers”.
Amy Moule, 37, said her 15-year-old daughter Beth has been put in detention because of a “ridiculous” uniform clampdown over how tight girls’ trousers should be.
More than 200 parents have backed her petition calling for staff at St Peter’s School, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, to “stop harassing” female pupils by dishing out the punishment for not wearing “baggy” school trousers.
“The kids are being told they are distracting teachers and students,” said Moule. “It’s atrocious, it’s not the right calibre of teacher at the school.”
The row broke out after tight trousers for girls - which were reportedly previously acceptable as school uniform - were banned under a policy change.
Moule refused to buy the new trousers and teachers started clamping down by dishing out one-hour detentions after the half-term.
“It’s just a wasteful ethos,” she said. “My daughter has been in a few detentions and I’ve said she cannot do them because I’m not changing the trousers as I don’t have enough money to do that.”
Moule claimed her daughter was being “victimised” by teachers handing out one-hour detentions and that the resulting stress had affected her GCSE mock exam grades.
She added: “The girls have got really stressed out at having to do this and have all these detentions and [they have been told] they are going to keep getting detentions until they change these trousers.
“Beth told me and it infuriated me, I phoned up the school.
″[The head] says they not acceptable and they are leggings - I don’t think they are leggings at all.”
Melvin Bream, 40, from Huntingdon, whose 12-year-old and 15-year-old daughters have been affected by the policy change, said: “It’s a load of rubbish. I feel that the uniform is too ‘correct’.
“I’ve had the kids not want to go to school because of it. I don’t think they are over tight, no, I think they should be allowed ‘tight’ trousers. The school has clamped down on it and the girls are getting detentions for it for no reason.”
Paula Lloyd-Northrop, 47, has told her twin 15-year-old girls not to go to detentions after they got one every day of the week for wearing “skinny” trousers.
She said: “They’ve got something like three-and-a-half months actually left in school to do education for GCSEs and they are clamping right down yet they’ve worn their brand of trousers for the last five years.
“It’s just crazy at the minute because they’ve got their GCSEs - I think they should allow any child to wear whatever trousers they want as long as [they are] smart.”
Headteacher of the school, Christopher Bennet, said “we expect professional attire” and claims only 25 out of the 1,002 pupils at his school were affected by the uniform change.
He said a minority of parents had taken issue with the policy and a letter with an image of what was “acceptable” and “not acceptable” girls’ trousers had been sent to parents over the summer holidays.
“It is all about expectation,” he said. “Some girls are coming in in leggings.”
The school’s new uniform policy states: “Black, full length tailored trousers only. No leggings, skinny trousers or culottes.
“No denim of any type. No studs or embroidery on pockets. Girls will not be allowed to wear tight fashion trousers.”
The website states school trousers can be bought from the school and also recommends buying £14 trousers from an online shop.
The school refused to comment on the claims over teachers being “distracted” by the schoolgirls wearing “tight trousers”.