Boys wearing skirts no longer works as a protest

There's an enjoyable news story that has appeared and reappeared in recent summers.

A groups of boys at a secondary school want to wear shorts in hot weather but are told by the powers that be that they can't. They then read the school's uniform policy carefully and find there's nothing to stop them wearing skirts.

So they turn up at school in skirts one day as a protest, secure in the knowledge that the authorities can't do anything about it.

But Wymondham High Academy in Norfolk has spoilt the fun. It's gender-neutral uniform policy states that pupils can wear trousers or skirts, but shorts are not allowed.

So now turning up in skirts is a pretty hollow protest, because you have the schools explicit approval.

I don't understand what the objection is to allowing boys (and girls) to wear shorts to school in summer. It's an odd reversal of the obsession with making boys wear shorts in winter that schools used to have.