Mum fumes at school ban on shorts for boys

A PLYMOUTH mum is fuming over the strict school uniform policy at her son’s school which means pupils can wear skirts, but not shorts, over the hot summer months.

- SARAH ELMES

Mandy Drew’s son Leo, who attends Tor Bridge High, joined his classmates to stage a ‘peaceful protest’ against the controversial uniform rules, which mean pupils of any gender can wear a skirt to lessons but cannot don a pair of shorts.

Leo, aged 14, was put into isolation as a result of the protest and subsequently suspended despite the school, in Estover, currently ‘considering future changes to the policy’.

His mum Mandy, aged 32, said she believes the rules are ‘sexist’. She says she is concerned about her son’s welfare during the hot weather and doesn’t agree that other pupils can wear skirts to keep cool, but shorts are not allowed.

The school has confirmed its uniform policy ‘is not restricted by gender’ and ‘acceptable items of clothing, including skirts and trousers, can be worn by any of our students’.

Mandy, a taxi driver, who lives in Kings Tamerton, said: “I feel strongly in support of Leo regarding this as it is him who has to sit in those hot classrooms all day whilst many female pupils around him are allowed to wear skirts. We are in 2023, we are a modern-day society and I think adding shorts as an acceptable uniform item for both genders is far overdue.