Schools usually have dress codes so that the students can learn in a focused and orderly environment. But in June 2021, when Scotland experienced its hottest summer, Moffat Academy’s dress code seemed to inflict much torment on its students, especially boys. Amid this scenario, a 16-year-old student expressed his rebellion against the school’s uniform policy by stepping inside the campus in Dumfries and Galloway wearing his sister’s skirt, reported BBC.
Moffat Academy‘s uniform policy states that students should only wear either dark (black or grey) trousers or a skirt. When it came to female students, there was nothing noteworthy about this policy. It was the male students who felt mortified for wearing full-length trousers as sweltering heat scorched outside. So, Shane Richardson decided to protest. He borrowed a skirt from his younger sister Lexi and went to school wearing the skirt the following day.
“There’s no air conditioning switched on in the classrooms just now because of Covid so it’s really hot. Like a few others, I was sent home for wearing shorts so I decided to start wearing my sister Lexi’s skirt,” Shane told the Daily Record. Shane explained that a group of boys at the school wanted to wear skirts because they were not being allowed to wear shorts. “Every single year when the weather gets hot, the boys go to school in shorts,” Hayley, Shane’s mother told the publication. “All of a sudden this rule is being hammered into the school. The last two days when it has been super hot they have just sat in class and it is almost like sitting in a greenhouse.”
Hayley reported that, due to the level of complaints about the policy, a meeting was scheduled for later that month but that was not until two weeks later, and the students would have to suffer for another 10 to 15 days. A spokesman from Dumfries and Galloway Council told BBC that the policy at Moffat Academy had been in place for several years and it needed to be updated. “Feedback from young people, parents, and carers to the school has indicated that it is time to review the policy and make changes,” he said.
On June 23 the same year, Daily Record reported that the school had finally revised its dress code policy. The school allowed its young students to wear whatever was smart, comfortable, and in school colors. Parents were informed during a Zoom meeting that as long as students wore a white shirt and school tie, they could wear other clothing of their choice, including shorts.
Alistair Tait, the chairman of the Parent Teacher Association, said, “It’s a really good outcome for everybody, and changing the policy was the right thing to do.” They added, “There had been some strong feelings about it, but after a consultation with young people, staff, and parents, the dress policy has now been updated.”
