Strict Headmistress Sends Girls Home Over Tight Trousers That ‘Distract’ Male Teachers
A headmistress who has already banned skirts from her school has once again caused uproar by sending girls home because their trousers were too tight.
Dr Rowena Blencowe told pupils that their choice of trousers was not suitable as they would prove to be a “distraction” to male teachers at Trentham High School in Stoke-on-Trent.
She first outlawed skirts in July for the same reason, and said she was fed up of telling girls off for showing too much leg and wearing skirts that “barely covered their bottoms”.
Ten girls were kicked out as they arrived on the first day of term this week for the tightness of their trousers - having been inspected by staff on their way in.
The students were kept out of some lessons and threatened with isolation if they refused to go home to put on baggier trousers.
Harriet Dale, 15, who was one of the pupils booted out, accused the school of making pupils feel self-conscious.
She said: “I was with a girl wearing exactly the same pair of trousers but, because I have slightly larger legs than her, I was told my trousers are too tight and that I must go home and change.
"First the school told us skirts are not acceptable, now we are only allowed to wear trousers after they’ve been inspected.
"It’s really uncomfortable to think you could be walking around the corridors and teachers will be looking you up and down. I’m not the only person who feels that way.
"I know I’ve got slightly bigger legs than some people, it doesn’t need pointing out.”
Harriet’s mother Helen, a retail manager, has also blasted staff for singling out her daughter in “the most important year of her life”.
She fumed: “I’m incredibly angry. I can’t believe the school is kicking up a fuss over something so minor…
"I’m worried this will make Harriet conscious of her size when she should have much bigger worries as she takes her GCSEs.
"It is supposed to be the most important school year of her life.”
Helen described the headteacher as a “dinosaur” who just wants to “make an impression”.
But headmistress Dr Rowena Blencowe yesterday rubbished claims the school’s guidelines are not clear.
She said pupils must wear "black, full-length tailored” trousers and not “jeans, leggings, tightly-fitted trousers, cotton trousers, shorts or tracksuit bottoms”.
Dr Blencowe added: “Our guidelines are clear. It is up to parents to make sure their child attends school wearing trousers which suit their shape.
"Trousers which fit one pupil may be too tight on another, we have to draw the line somewhere.”
Trentham High School is a mixed secondary that caters for 750 pupils aged between 11-16 and was rated as “inadequate” at its last Ofsted meeting in June 2013
