School Isolate Children For Wearing Skin Tight

Around 60 children were picked out by teachers on Wednesday for wearing 'skin-tight' trousers, which are banned under the school's new uniform rules.

Dozens of shocked pupils at Heaton Manor School, in Newcastle, spent more than eight hours of their first day of term sat in small rooms following the school's crackdown on incorrect uniform, which continued yesterday.



Pupils who said they could not find the right trousers were even marched down to the shops to show them where they were on sale.

Despite a raft of complaints about the children being kept in isolation on Wednesday for uniform breaches, many suffered the same punishment yesterday.

Heaton Manor School's headmistress Lynne Ackland told the Newcastle Chronicle on Thursday, “Yesterday for uniform offences there were 60 children is isolation. Today there were about 50.”

Mother Christine Reid said, '”We were sent out letters from the school to say pupils must wear black tailored trousers. In my opinion Antonia's trousers are tailored; they are not skin tight. The school should be more specific.

Antonia was really looking forward to her first day back. But the minute she walked through the school gates she was taken into isolation because her trousers were tapered in at the bottom.

“They are the same trousers that she has worn at that school for years and she's never been pulled up before.

“She was in that room for eight hours yesterday and she was deeply distressed. I'd understand if she'd behaved badly, but this is punishment for a pair of trousers the teachers don't like.

“She's in Year 11 and she's studying for her GCSEs. She's lost two days' education because of this ridiculous rule and I'm absolutely livid.

“The worst of it is, they took the girls to the shops to show them the sort of trousers they'd like them to wear. I send my daughter to school to learn not to shop!”

Caroline Wild, who works at Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, said her 12-year-old daughter, Lucy, struggles to find trousers to fit her.

She said, “She's not a bad kid and she does really well at school.

“We spent months looking for a pair of trousers to fit her because she's really skinny.

“I would understand if they were put in isolation for doing something awful, but not for wearing the uniform their parents bought for them in good faith.”

Ms Ackland said that students had been warned about the uniform change, which came after a 12-month consultation with parents.

“We have communicated at length with parents, pupils and school governors,” she said.

“If we haven't implemented it fairly, we are very sorry to parents and pupils but we have tried to implement the policy as fairly as possible.

More than 100 pupils were sent home from a school in the West Midlands on Tuesday for turning up in the wrong shoes.

The shocked students, aged 12 to 16, were given their marching orders just minutes after turning up for class on the first day of term.

Staff at The Coseley School, Bilston told the youngsters to go home because their footwear were not 'black, leather shoes' and were 'inappropriate'.

According to Department of Education guidelines, schools can send students home briefly to change their uniform if they are in breach of rules and it is safe to do so.

This should be marked as an authorised absence, unless the pupil in question is a repeat offender. In either case the student's parents must be informed.