For headteacher Jamie Barry, introducing a gender-neutral school uniform coverage at his Bristol primary school was simply fundamental commonplace experience. “Why would we outline our kids by way of the clothes they put on? We still have the same uniform, we in reality removed all references to gender in our uniform coverage.”

ladies at Parson avenue college already had the option to put on whatever the boys may want to wear, but Barry’s new coverage enabled boys to wear skirts and dresses for the first time. The reality that no longer a unmarried boy has chosen to do so within the year because the coverage became introduced doesn’t rely to Barry. “For me, this was approximately growing a tradition of attractiveness. youngsters are not born homophobic or discriminatory, they're uncovered to the ones impacts as they grow up. At Parson road, we accept as true with youngsters should grow up seeing and experiencing equality, before any stigmas are created.”

This month John Lewis announced it was removing “girls” and “boys” labels from its children’s garb departments in order to take away gender stereotyping and offer greater desire. it is the first store to try this however it's far following a fashion set with the aid of many colleges. they are saying it's far in part about releasing girls from flimsy shoes, constricting skirts and gender stereotyping however it is also about making all kids experience they don’t have to be pigeonholed.

Cavendish street number one in west Didsbury introduced its new policy last September. “We felt that in this day and age it become inappropriate to designate sure garb items to at least one gender,” says the headteacher, Janet Marland.


at least one hundred twenty faculties undertake gender-neutral uniforms, charity says
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“We wanted our boys and women to know that they had the equal rights. Plus, we had worries about what some of our women have been wearing – shoes without proper grips or strong soles, and tight-becoming pencil skirts that restrained their motion. This become preventing them from gambling appropriately on climbing frames.”

Her coverage now certainly lists a range of uniform objects that mother and father can pick out from whilst shopping for for a child of both sex. The removal of references to boys’ and women’ clothing was not difficult to do, she says. “there has been no detrimental response from parents or governors in any respect. I suppose all colleges can and need to have gender-impartial uniform policies.”

nearly half of of women (48%) and more than a third of men (36%) might strongly help schools adopting a gender-neutral uniform policy that permits both boys and ladies to put on trousers and skirts, according to a YouGov survey of extra than three,400 united kingdom adults this month. school rules that permit students of either intercourse to put on trousers however permit most effective women – and not boys – to wear skirts, were less famous: handiest 32% of lady and 33% of male respondents supported this method above others.

Uniform guidelines that deny pupils any picks are the least popular: just one in 20 ladies and one in 10 guys have been in favour of guidelines that force ladies to wear skirts and boys to put on trousers. most effective eight% of male and 7% of girl respondents desired faculties to remove skirts so that every one children put on trousers.

 youngsters from Cavendish avenue number one faculty
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 Boys and girls at Cavendish street number one faculty in west Didsbury actually have a single uniform list from which to choose.
this is, but, what headteacher Tony Smith has carried out at Priory college, a comprehensive secondary faculty in Lewes, East Sussex. “We regularly started the faculty day with conversations about the inappropriate manner that young ladies were carrying torn tights and skirts rolled up very excessive, and the inappropriate way that boys had been sporting off their uniform, with untidy shirts and blazers no longer worn effectively.” New college students of both sex at the moment are best allowed to put on trousers, a shirt and a faculty jumper, although each girls and boys also can wear PE “skorts” – skirts with shorts beneath – or PE shorts if there is a heatwave. “it's far a uniform this is clever, realistic, price-powerful and respectable, and it's miles the equal for every person.”

while a few parents have responded via expressing a preference for his or her daughter to retain to put on a skirt, many consider his decision, he says. “What we’re announcing is: schooling is a specific occasion. get dressed appropriately and decently, and come to high school to research. There are masses of possibilities so as to explicit your individualism out of doors school.”

Janet Daulby is a consultant at the motive force youngsters agree with charity and campaigns on Twitter towards gender stereotyping. She is worried that ladies are frequently scrutinised a ways more than boys. “Boys have were given fewer rules to break than women because there are not any sexual messages approximately boys’ uniforms. There are by no means any prerequisites about how short a boy’s shorts can be. however if we create regulations about skirt lengths, those rules then exist to be damaged via women.”

colleges send a horrible message to boys in the event that they advocate girls should get dressed modestly to keep male staff or students from becoming aroused, she says. “I assume that condones a blame subculture for ladies and what they wear.”


Exeter faculty’s uniform solve melts after boys’ skirt protest
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She and Cheryl Rickman, an envoy for permit clothes Be clothes – which worked with John Lewis to cast off its gender labels – are not in favour of forcing girls to put on simplest what boys have been already wearing. “We need to stop women feeling like they’re sporting a boy’s uniform because they wear trousers, which are greater realistic,” says Rickman. She dislikes the motifs of sequins, hearts and plant life which can be often found on distinct girls’ school clothes and footwear due to the fact they perpetuate gender stereotypes, and is concerned that ladies’ school trousers are often tighter becoming than boys’. “It’s crucial to offer kids a desire and realise that every child is an man or woman. We need genderless apparel, now not genderless kids.”

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For some schools, though, dividing up women and boys thru uniform is a part of their culture, says Neil Roskilly, leader government of the independent schools affiliation. “every faculty will make certain their uniform is in keeping with their values. parents who don’t like that uniform can both select to take their baby to any other school or ask the faculty to review its coverage – which I assume most could be satisfied to do.”

scholars can, of course, ensure their voices are heard. in advance this year, boys at Isca academy in Devon have been denied the right to put on shorts in the course of a heatwave and donned skirts in protest. by means of the cease of the week, headteacher Aimee Mitchell introduced that every one boys might be allowed to put on shorts next summer time, at the same time as those who wore skirts might not be punished.

Over in Bristol, Barry is reaping the rewards of his gender-impartial uniform policy. The school lately received a Gold quality practice award from the LGBT education charity teach & rejoice.

“casting off the association of ‘boys’ or ‘women’ with unique garments in a school uniform coverage won't alternate the manner college students dress however it can be a big deal to younger folks who don’t perceive as a boy or a female,” he says. “it is able to provide them the popularity that they want. till we do that, it’s going to be lots more hard for children to mention: i'm who i'm.”

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