Pupils hold ‘wearing shorts matters’ protest in sweltering heatwave

Students at a South Yorkshire secondary school staged a protest outside after being told they couldn’t wear shorts during a heatwave.

Pupils at Outwood Academy City, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, have been banned from wearing shorts, but girls are allowed to wear skirts.

Furious parents have now picketed outside the school after their children were turned away from the school gates or given detention for turning up to school wearing shorts in the sweltering heat.

A total of 10 boys and five girls turned up outside the school today, holding picket signs with messages including ‘Free the Legs’, ‘Give Shorts a Chance’, and ‘Wearing Shorts Matters’.

Those wearing shorts were not allowed into the school. Mum Sara Compson, 32, said she was ‘disgusted’ by the rules.

Her son Derion, 14, has type 1 diabetes, and the hot weather has been making managing the condition even more difficult.

‘When they first started in Year 7, they used to allow them to wear PE kits on hot days, but once this Principal started, it stopped,’ she said.

‘When I sent Derion in on one of the days, he was saying he was too hot, he was literally dripping in sweat – his blood sugar levels were dropping. I’ve refused to send him any other day it’s been hot.’

Sara says the school has no air conditioning, and that, combined with 30 other students’ body heat, makes for an insufferable environment.

At the protest outside the school, Derion said: ‘It’s quite hard for me with my medical condition, having diabetes.

‘When I’m at school, it’s quite warm and I’m wearing quite a lot of layers. I tend to sweat, which makes my blood sugars drop dramatically, and it’s quite bad because half the time I’m sitting there with no energy, and teachers are yelling at me for having no energy and not engaging with the work. It’s hard to concentrate because of the heat.’

Another mum at the protest, who asked not to be named, said her child, who has autism, becomes frustrated during the hot weather.

She said: ‘When he comes out, he’s kicking off and getting frustrated because he’s all hot and sweaty, his shirt’s clung to his back because it’s been wet from sweat all day.

‘He gets upset and frustrated and takes it out on me at home, or when I pick him up in the car he kicks off, and he turns around and says he doesn’t want to go to school – it’s a struggle to get him to school.

‘If girls can go in with skirts on without tights, why can’t boys go in with shorts? It’s a bit sexist, isn’t it? It can’t be one rule for one and then one rule for the other.’

According to the Department for Education’s hot weather guidance, schools could consider relaxing uniform rules during hot weather to make sure pupils are comfortable, and children should ‘wear loose, light-coloured clothing to help keep cool’.

Education consultant Matthew Smith said he thought the school could be breaching the guidance by only allowing dark-coloured trousers.

He said: ‘The guidance does not say anything about not letting schools ban shorts. In other words, the boys concerned in the article could wear shorts and not be in breach of DfE guidance.’

An Outwood Grange Academies Trust spokesperson said: ‘All of our academies operate in line with DfE hot weather guidance, with principals making decisions as appropriate for their respective schools.’

When asked if the academy had a specific response to the protesters, the spokesperson refused to comment further.

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