Wednesday, August 25, 2021

The return of schoolboys in skirts

What with lockdown and school closures, I feared for the future of a recently established silly-season staple. But a search of Google News shows it was alive and well this summer.

You know how the story goes. A group of teenage boys want to wear shorts to school in a heatwave but are told by the authorities that they can't.

So they read the small print of their school's uniform policy and find there's nothing to say that boys can't wear skirts. And that's how they turn up the next morning.

In June it happened in Moffat, where a 16-year-old persuaded his school to change its uniform policy as a result.

And the following month, receiving far more coverage, it happened in St Austell.

One of the boys explained what happened next to CornwallLive:

"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."

3 comments:

nigel hunter said...

When girls can wear trousers if they want ,nowt wrong with the boys wearing a skirt.Is that not a kind of equal rights?

Tom Barney said...

'Are you new?'

'Yes,' said Eileen.

'Then I might suggest that you're not getting off to a very good start. And you'll wear a skirt in future, please. Girls aren't allowed to wear trousers to school until they're in the fifth year.'

'Can the fifth year boys wear skirts, then?' Eileen asked.

The teacher appeared not to hear this. 'What class are you in?'

Jan Mark: 'Chutzpah'

Phil Beesley said...

St Custards?

This summer's custard story arrives from Aberdeenshire where pupils have petitioned for the retention of Mrs Moir's puddings. Well done to the youngsters for the eloquence of their case.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-58341247