Welcome to schoolskirtban.co.uk
Girls are banned from wearing skirts in 63 UK secondary schools that together account for 1.5% of the country's secondary schoolgirls. After a big jump in 2011, the rate of new bans appears to be slowing.
This blog charts the rise of the skirt ban (click here for maps) and offers advice on how to fight one if proposed in your school. It also asks - 'is it even legal?'. The government's equalities watchdog thinks it isn't (see here)
(The list of ban schools on this website has been thoroughly researched and is near complete, but information on any omissions grateful received)
Things still quiet
Just completed the April 2013 run of all my searches and nothing new has come up. A large majority of bans are announced in either May, June or July, but even so that nothing has come up so far is a positive sign.
Lack of news
Just run all my searches again and the news is - there is no news! Last year, there were two January bans and a further two starting in September that had been announced by this point (one of which was later withdrawn). This year there's nothing apart from Castle Vale and even that's not certain.
Even the number of bans threatened in letters that I've picked up - and only a minority are detectable - has fallen from 6 to 2. Don't know if this is a trend or not.
Just for the sake of posting something new, one curiosity my summer searches threw up is Catmose College in Rutland where they've introduced a near ankle length skirt (see here). Looks odd.
Schools that ban trousers!
There are still a few state secondary schools that are skirts-only - no trousers allowed! It's hard to say how many such schools there are, but there are not less than a couple of dozen in England, mostly in the south east, with many more in Ireland (both North and the Republic) where skirt-only rules are routine.
Two readers of this blog have said that the school either they (or their daughter) attend are considering changing their uniforms to ban trousers. Who knew that was still happening in this day and age?
Just to be clear, this blog is pro-choice and does not endorse skirt or trouser bans.
New academy brings in ban with new uniform
Castle Vale School, Birmingham will become an academy from January 2013. As part of the change, it's getting a new uniform and it's trousers only. Needless to say, the teachers have exempted themselves from their policy.
UPDATE - the head has resigned and the uniform question is not settled. There will be no changes in January.
Yorkshire school brings in ban
Another September 2012 ban has just come to light - this one at Castle Hall Academy in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. In a newsletter (click here) the school claims this will only be for one year. Whether they mean that is another matter.