Plymstock School skirt ban on hold after feedback

A Plymouth school that banned students from wearing skirts has decided to put the uniform change on hold after it received feedback from pupils and parents.

On Thursday, Plymstock School said that from September all students would have to wear dark grey trousers.

The school said the skirts the girls were wearing had become "too short".

It has since announced a "focus group" will be set up to "discuss a suitable way forward".

On its website it says: "September's ban on skirts will be put on hold as we would like to set up a focus group of parents, students, staff and governors to discuss a suitable way forward for this aspect of school uniform.

"We will email all parents on Monday with further details, and to request volunteers to join the focus group.

"All girls will be spoken to on Monday morning through an assembly, in order to keep them informed and to request their participation in the process."

A letter sent to parents on Thursday said although "some girls leave their homes with their skirts at a reasonable length", they "roll them up for school".

"Recent fashions have led to girls wearing skirts that are too short to be acceptable in the workplace."

It said "time wasted addressing skirt issues would be better spent focusing on teaching and learning".

Parents told BBC News they were "upset" by the announcement and "the minority are spoiling it for everyone else".

The school and Plymouth City Council were unavailable to comment.