Parent fury over school decision on uniform during heatwave

A decision by a school in Bristol to force pupils to wear trousers during this week’s hot temperatures has upset parents, with some even keeping their children at home.

Blaise High School in Henbury relaxed its policy on jumpers and ties, and allowed the top button on their shirt collars - while other schools in the country allowed students to wear their PE kit. But the policy still forced the students to wear trousers.

This policy upset one parent who complained about the school’s concern for the safety of their pupils. She also claimed that her son turned up wearing shorts, but was forced to borrow trousers in order to attend classes.

“The options for my son today were to stay in school and wear a pair of school trousers, stay in ‘pastoral services’ (day-long detention) with no break or lunch outside the classroom, or be sent home with a laptop to do his school work on. We decided to suck it up and borrow school trousers for the day to prevent any more disruptions to his education”, she told ITV.

Another parent said the school ‘seems to care more about keeping up appearances than the wellbeing of the children’, and kept her Year 8 daughter home during Monday and Tuesday after she had experienced dehydration and sun burn the week before.

One upset parent wrote on Facebook: “Teachers should be made to wear strict uniform same as kids, they’ll soon change their tune! There should be a law against it being full uniform in such high temperatures! How do they expect kids to cope and learn in full uniform.”

Another added: “Most local schools have said they can wear there PE kit which is still classed as uniform. I’m not sure why Blaise are being so strict”

Chief executive officer of the Greenshaw Learning Trust, which runs the school, Will Smith said in a statement: “The students’ well-being and safety is our highest priority. If parents or students have concerns, please contact the school directly.”

In a statement to parents today (July 20), the school said ‘thanks for working with us over the past two days during the heatwave’.

They also added that they ‘confirm that uniform adjustments will continue today as the temperature forecast is still warm at 27 degrees’, and that ‘blazers and ties continues to be optional,’ but say nothing about the requirement to wear trousers.