A schoolboy banned from wearing shorts during the current heatwave has been given the option to wear a skirt.
Dylon, a student at Werneth School in Bredbury, Greater Manchester, was isolated for refusing to replace his shorts with trousers, his mother has claimed.
The school’s uniform policy states shorts are not permitted, but trousers and skirts are.
The boy’s mum, Vicki Thompson has hit out at the policy, adding that she found it “ever so sexist and ridiculous in such temperatures”.
Werneth School
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She added: “Their words to me were that we have a skirt/trouser policy and boys are not allowed to wear shorts.
“It feels like the girls have a choice, but boys do not,” She told Manchester Evening News.
But Werneth School, have backed the decision, confirming that Dylon was not isolated for wearing shorts, but for refusing to “accept our offer of dressing appropriately.”
The school’s headteacher Andrew Conroy added: “If Dylon wishes to wear a skirt, that is his personal preference and we would support it - as we have done previously with other students.
“Shorts however are not part of our uniform policy and there is no intention for that to change.”
It comes as temperatures continue to soar across the country, with the Met Office extending their amber weather warning until Tuesday.
The school said Dylon was not isolated for wearing shorts, but for refusing to “accept our offer of dressing appropriately"
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But the school say they have “made very reasonable uniform allowances for the hot weather,” with Dylon one of two pupils who didn’t wear suitable uniform on one day earlier this week.
A school spokesperson said: “It's an accepted norm that shorts are not part of our uniform and never have been: 798/800 students recognised that yesterday.
“We do that because we recognise we need to provide uniform sometimes for some of our parents, particularly in the current economic climate.
“In fact, every morning, the leadership team at this school wait at the entrance, and loan uniform via a separate room to any student who requires it. That is every single day.
“Nonetheless, if a student misunderstands [the policy], we don't make an issue of it. We have a large room full of uniform and have spent a significant amount of our budget just this year on uniform because we support our families. These are difficult times and so we have allocated the same amount next year.
“He was not isolated for lack of uniform: he was isolated because he refused to accept our offer of dressing appropriately. An offer made calmly and respectfully.
“Mum then supported him by taking him out rather than providing him with trousers.”
