Beacon Hill Academy: Girls out of lessons in stretchy trousers row

Parents said they were furious their daughters had been taken out of lessons for wearing stretchy black trousers at a school that recently starred in a BBC documentary about behaviour.

One mum claimed some girls had to go into cupboards to change - something the head of Beacon Hill Academy in Sedgley denied.

The secondary school said it would buy a uniform if there were "difficulties".

Principal Sukhjot Dhami said he made "no apologies" of the high standards.

BBC Two's Helping Our Teens documentary introduced a behaviour expert to the school to help reduce undesirable behaviour.

The academy has previously cut exclusions from 400 a year to "single figures", after implementing new behaviour strategies, but it has said the pandemic had a "significant" impact on learners' social and emotional health.

At the start of term, a number of girls were issued with letters telling them "stretch-style" trousers were "not in line with uniform policy", with parents asked to purchase tailored, full-length trousers instead.

One parent, Liz, pointed out daughter Eva, who is in her final year, Year 11, had always been a model student and "never been in any trouble".

But she said the girl had had to experience "quite severe" sanctions, adding: "We're talking whole days spent in isolation with other girls."

"Some... girls are coming home and reporting that their waistbands have been tugged at," she said.

"They've been forced to go into cupboards to get changed into the school trousers to try them on... [and] open their blazers and be inspected on the gates.

"I can only imagine how that's making them feel."

The mother, who said "smart stretch trousers" were allowed in workplaces, stated she did not want to abolish school uniform policy and wanted girls "to be able to go into school confident" and smartly dressed.

Principal Sukhjot Dhami, who said the tugging claim was "completely false", added: "Uniform checks aren't new. We do them every morning and have been for the last three or four academic years."

Mr Dhami stated: "There are lots of professions, such as the NHS, even working in McDonald's and working in the Post Office and other such industries, where there are strict uniform codes.

"I make no apologies of having the high standards and expectations. We've got the best set of results we've ever had. We're an over-subscribed school and that's all happened because of high standards and high expectations."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]