A SECONDARY school has allegedly denied up to 200 pupils entry to classes amid a crackdown on children’s uniforms.
Girls at Caldicot School in Monmouthshire have also been given face wipes to take off their make-up, and clippers to cut their nails, it has been claimed.
WNSAlun Ebenezer, the acting headteacher at the school for 11- to 18-year-olds[/caption]
WNSParents are claiming pupils at Caldicot School are being sent home over uniform[/caption]
Parents were sent a letter last week saying skirts needed to be “to the knee”.
Alun Ebenezer, the acting headteacher at the school for 11- to 18-year-olds, said: “Students will not be allowed to walk around school if these guidelines are not followed.”
He had faced criticism in 2022 when parents claimed pupils had been excluded from lessons for wearing the wrong socks and trousers.
One father at Caldicot, Kevin Price, claimed up to 200 pupils were denied access to lessons, leaving both children and parents in tears.
Kevin is demanding the school provide him a written reason why his daughter was blocked from classes.
Monmouthshire council said that all matters relating to girls’ uniforms were being dealt with by female members of staff.
But one 14-year-old girl claimed she was told to have her skirt measured by a male teacher, the BBC reported.
She refused and was sent to a room where other children were being held from attending classes, and she was eventually sent home for wearing fake eyelashes, it is claimed.
Another girl, aged 13, claimed she was met by two teachers at the front door when she arrived at school, who told her: “You’ve got eyelashes on.”
She said she was taken to a room which had “about 50 girls” inside.
The teenager also claimed that a female teacher tried to pull her friend’s skirt down in an apparent bid to stretch it, but briefly exposed the shorts she was wearing beneath.
The child’s mother, who came to collect her, told the BBC: “They’ve got all these girls in so-called ‘holding rooms’ before sending them home.
“It is unfair and targeting girls – they don’t even want to teach them.”
One father said his 13-year-old daughter was singled out because of the length of her skirt, while his 15-year-old son was sent home due to an untucked shirt – with both children threatened with exclusion.
He called the move “totally pathetic”.
A Monmouthshire council spokesman told The Sun: “We are aware that this morning, 10th June 2024, Caldicot School staff have been more rigorous in implementing the school’s uniform policy as published on the school’s website.
“The acting Headteacher wrote to all parents and carers last week (6th June 2024) setting out that this would be the case as of this morning.
“With regards to the specific question regarding the length of skirts in school; all matters relating to girls’ uniforms are being dealt with by female members of staff.”
WNSParents were sent a letter last week saying skirts needed to be ‘to the knee’ (pictured: Inside the school)[/caption]
WNSCaldicot Councillor Rachel Garrick said: ‘It feels very much like girls’ bodies are being considered more than their right to an education’[/caption]
“Caldicot Councillor Rachel Garrick said: “I always get concerned at a list of reasons to remove education from children that appears focused on gender.
“It feels very much like girls’ bodies are being considered more than their right to an education.”
The new acting headteacher, Alun Ebenezer, was previously interim headteacher at The Deepings School in Lincolnshire.