Boy wears skirt to school in discrimination row

A 12-year-old schoolboy attended lessons dressed in a skirt to protest against ”discriminatory” rules which ban boys from wearing shorts. Chris Whitehead wore a girls’ knee-length skirt to classes at Impington Village College, near Cambridge, Cambs. He is protesting against a school uniform policy which bans boys from wearing shorts during the summer months.

He also addressed 1,368 pupils at morning assembly wearing the black skirt, which boys are permitted to wear due to a loophole in the policy. Chris believes that forcing boys to wear long trousers during the hot summer months affects concentration and their ability to learn. He said: ”In the summer girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts.



”We think that this discriminates against boys. I will march in a skirt with other boys waving banners and making a lot of noise. I will be wearing the skirt at school all day in protest at the uniform policy and addressing the assembly with the student council, wearing a skirt.” Chris’s mum Liz Whitehead, 50, has praised her son for standing up for ”what he believes in.”

She said: ”I am delighted that Chris is taking action on what he believes in, which the school actually encourages, so he is only doing what he is taught. I am really proud he is brave enough to wear a skirt to school for what he believes in and back him all the way.” Headteacher Robert Campbell said the ban on shorts was imposed following consultation with students, teachers and parents in 2009. Ultimately the boys can wear a skirt to school because it doesn’t say they can’t in the uniform policy and we would be discriminating against them if we did not allow it.”