A group of school boys who are banned from wearing shorts at school are protesting by rocking up to class in skirts
Pupil Adrian Copp, 15, and a few of his mates bought £8 Asda skirts to make a stand against the “outdated uniform policy.”
Their school’s rules don’t allow pupils to wear shorts, even during the current unbearable temperatures.
Adrian and around a dozen other Year 10 pupils decided to don a skirt in protest during some of the hottest days of the year.
According to the kids, they are using a loophole in their school’s uniform policy which allows skirts but does not assign their use to a gender.
Adrian asked his mum Donna, 33, if she could buy him a skirt to challenge the rules. Both Adrian and his two friends plan to continue wearing the skirts for the rest of the week.
Adrian said:
I found it a lot cooler definitely. It’s really uncomfortable wearing trousers in this heat. It was a mixed bag. Some teachers thought we were messing about. But there were others who cheered us on.
There were a group of Year 8 boys who were clapping and cheering us. We were removed from classes and banned for socialisation for 24 hours but we were let go because they couldn’t find anything to pin us on.
We haven’t broken any rules. We just want everyone to have the option to wear shorts in this heat and that goes for the girls too.
Donna is in agreement with her son and claims the argument to have shorts and skirts has been going on for several years.
She added:
When he went to primary school he would wear shorts no problem. But for some reason it hasn’t been allowed in secondary schools. It’s been an ongoing battle for a few years.
When Adrian came up with the idea at the weekend he had my full backing. There’s no specified gender on the uniform policy and we wanted to play by the rules.
Ideally it would be to open it up for girls to wear shorts too. Some girls aren’t comfortable about wearing skirts so this is about all students.
A few of the other boys had bottled it but Adrian kept it going. I’m so proud Adrian has the guts to take a stand.
The secondary school’s uniform guide reads: “Students must wear plain black tailored trousers made of standard material that sit at the waist and shoe line.
“These must be of a style that is complementary of a blazer. Skirts must be pleated and sit no higher than a credit card’s width above the knee.”
Adrian’s school has been contacted for comment.
