Gender-neutral uniform sparks protest at Bloxham Warriner School

Police have been called to a school after pupils staged a protest against a proposed gender-neutral uniform.

The Warriner School in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, wants to make trousers compulsory for all students.

It said it wanted to "empower pupils" but admitted the plans also came about because some girls were rolling up their skirts to make them shorter.

Following the protest on Friday, the school apologised for not consulting "properly" with pupils or parents.

Videos have appeared on social media showing scores of pupils protesting in the secondary school's grounds, with one student wearing a skirt over their trousers.

Parents were informed of the changes to the school uniform policy by letter on Thursday.

In the letter, seen by the BBC, the assistant headteacher Lotty Keys said the school had decided to implement a "gender-neutral uniform" from September 2023 to "further support and empower our students with our values of equality and respect".

"This was a decision made because, unfortunately, there is still a challenge by a lot of our female students wearing their skirts to our desired appropriate length," she said.

She added: "Students who roll skirts to an inappropriate length are sending out the wrong social message in their choice of style - they seem to feel they need to conform to a certain image, in order to fit in with friendship groups.

"We feel this has no place in an educational setting and for this reason we are introducing trousers for all students."

The school has been asked to explain what it meant by "wrong social message".

Thames Valley Police confirmed it received a report of a "disturbance" at the school at 09:10 GMT on Friday but added no arrests had been made.

Annabel Kay, the school's executive headteacher, confirmed pupils had organised a protest against a change to the school's uniform policy.

In a statement, issued after the protest, Ms Kay apologised, saying the school "underestimated the strength of feeling on this issue" and recognised it had not "properly engaged or consulted with all parents and students".

She said the school had engaged with those involved in the protest and added it was "committed to engaging further on our uniform policy, and on other future policy changes, with both parents and students in a constructive and positive manner".

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