A mum blasted her daughter's school for 'objectifying' its female students in a row over skirt lengths.
Debbie Williams was one of a hundred or so demonstrators outside Yate Academy in South Gloucestershire on Monday protesting against the handling of its dress code. She claimed her child, Ruby Miles, a Year 9 student, has missed hours of lessons due to unfair uniform codes by the secondary school.
The backlash comes following a petition launched by students last week that stated the uniform rules were 'disrupting learning', 'causing undue stress and agitation among the student body' and 'sexualising the inch above a girls' knee'. It said students were made to line up outside school so their uniforms could be checked, and alleged "countless girls were removed from lessons to address skirt length discrepancies".
Debbie said Ruby has missed hours' worth of education due to the dress code fiasco (Bristol Live/BPM MEDIA)The school's uniform rules state that skirts must be "on or below the knee", reports BristolLive. Ms Williams feels that staff have differing ideas around what constitutes the correct and incorrect skirt length and she believes something needs to change in order for her daughter and other students to 'feel safe' at school and get the most out of their learning.
The mum explained how Ruby returned from a long period of leave after the Christmas period, hoping to return to start a fresh year of education, but she was put in AR - a type of internal exclusion within the school, but out of lessons - because her skirt was deemed 'too short'. Ruby then apparently queried teaching staff about this, but ended up being suspended for "answering back", according to her mum.
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The mum labelled the school's dress code for skirts as sexist (Bristol Live/BPM MEDIA)Ms Williams admits that initially Ruby had been pulled up on her skirt length because she had, like a number of other girls in the school, rolled up her skirt to make it shorter. However, Ms Williams says teachers had not initially made that known to her in the message home and so Ruby's mum had assumed that there had been an issue with the skirt itself, which was purchased from the official school uniform supplier.
She said that despite the fact red and navy tartan skirts from the official supplier of the school's uniform come in two length options - 22 and 24 inches - teachers have now allegedly told students and their families that the 24-inch option is the 'only choice accepted'.
(Bristol Live/BPM MEDIA)Ms Williams escorted Ruby into school on her way to the hospital the following morning and spoke with the headteacher and deputy headteacher about the length of her daughter's skirt. Both staff members allegedly told her the skirt was "fine", however later in the day Ruby was stopped by another teacher who she says told her her skirt was too short, once more.
Ms Williams said: "The staff are not clear on their own rules. It's horrible. I witnessed it myself. The deputy headteacher has obviously looked at [my daughter] and said 'well that's longer than yesterday' - and it was the same skirt. Then he's standing back and looking her up and down. Then he said 'oh hang on a minute, let me get a female member of staff'.
Yate Academy in South Gloucestershire (Bristol Live/BPM MEDIA)"The female member of staff comes over and she obviously hasn't been party to that conversation, so you can see on her face that she didn't know which way she was supposed to be answering in that minute. Is it long enough, or isn't it?
"It's just objectifying these girls and the whole sexism thing comes in. It's just not comfortable. I would not accept being treated like that walking into my workplace. We have to remember, these are teenage girls who are already sensitive about body image and everything on social media telling them they're not good enough, and then they've gone into school and been made even more aware. I feel like my daughter is being objectified."
(Bristol Live/BPM MEDIA)Ms Williams says that the school has given girls the alternative of wearing trousers, but she says in some cases the trousers do not fit correctly or comfortably on the body. She said Ruby tried on three pairs of trousers for her school uniform, but none of these fitted her.
"It's just so wrong. It's been the focus," Ms Williams goes on to say. "The whole ethos of Yate Academy is that they have uninterrupted learning, which is brilliant and I think it's excellent - they go into school, they have their heads down in lessons, they're learning - and they have their rules and regulations for that.
"Some of them are a bit hard line, but you can see where they're coming from. They make sense. However, they've put in these ridiculous rules on skirt lengths and are interrupting their learning, no end.
"The teachers are interrupting the children's learning by pulling them out for a skirt that they're not sure about - one minute it is OK, the next is isn't."
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Ms Williams says that Ruby, who has already selected her options ahead of GCSEs next year, returned to school last week following sickness and hasn't been in full-time education since early November 2023. She added: "Last week was supposed to be her first full week back at school. But she hasn't had a full day. Not a single one. Because of this skirt rule.
"The rules are ridiculously strict, however they aren't being implemented [consistently] either - and that was the general feeling at the protest this morning. There's a real misogynistic ethos too. It's just not the right message to send to our girls."
Ms Williams also posed the question of differing body shapes and sizes, asking how one length of skirt is expected to fall to the same spot on the knee if worn by a tall girl, a short girl, a slim girl or a curvier girl. She also said she, like the petition she and her family have all signed, were made aware of an occasion where girls had to line up outside to have their skirts 'inspected', describing it as being "humiliating".
According to Yate Academy's website, the school says: " Yate Academy has a uniform policy which all students are expected to follow. Our policy expects students to take pride in their appearance and emphasises that students dress in a professional manner, ensuring that students are able focus fully on their learning.
"Like many other schools, we have a uniform policy which has very clear boundaries. We expect uniform to be consistent because we know that this reduces the chance of social exclusion based on what students are wearing, reducing peer pressure and increasing students’ self-esteem."
The policy adds: "Uniform is checked at the front door as students arrive to school. If students are wearing an incorrect item of uniform they will be taken aside by a member of staff and it will be explained what needs to be corrected.
"If a student is missing an item of uniform they will be loaned this for the day and will be expected in return to hand over their mobile phone in exchange; they will then receive this back at the end of the day."
Yate Academy stated that it does not comment on "matters such as this" and advised "any parents with concerns should contact the school directly".
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