Shorts ban hits boiling point: Pupils stage protest outside secondary school over 'disgusting' short trouser ruling
Children at Outwood Academy City, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, have been blocked from slipping into the garments.
Teachers allegedly turned boys away from the school gates or gave them detention for wearing shorts - despite temperatures sky rocking to around 30C.
Meanwhile, girls are reportedly allowed to wear skirts, prompting accusations of 'one rule for one group and one rule for the other'.
The move has now prompted temperatures to boil over, with parents and pupils picketing outside the secondary today.
A group of 10 boys and five girls rallied in defiance of the 'ban', armed with signs saying 'Free the Legs', 'Give Shorts a Chance', and 'Wearing Shorts Matters'.
Mother Sara Compson, whose 14-year-old son Derion goes to the school, said she was 'disgusted' by the rules. Her teenager has Type 1 diabetes - and the hot weather has been making managing the condition even more difficult.
'When they first started in Year 7, they used to allow them to wear PE kits on hot days, but once this Principal started it stopped,' Ms Compson said.
'When I sent Derion in one of the days he was saying he was too hot, he was literally dripping in sweat - his blood sugar levels were dropping. I've refused to send him any other day it's been hot.'
She added: 'There's no air con, mixing that with 30 other students' body temperature, it's all going to add in to it.'
At the protest outside the school, Derion - who was wearing shorts - said: 'It's quite hard for me with my medical condition having diabetes.
'When I'm at school it's quite warm and I'm wearing quite a lot of layers. I tend to sweat which makes my blood sugars drop dramatically, and it's quite bad because half the time I'm sat there with no energy, and teachers are yelling at me for having no energy and not engaging with the work.
'It's hard to concentrate because of the heat.'
Another outraged mother at the protest, who asked not to be named, said her autistic child becomes frustrated during the hot weather.
'When he comes out he's kicking off and getting frustrated because he's all hot and sweaty, his shirt's clung to his back because it's been wet from sweat all day,' she said.
'He gets upset and frustrated and takes it out on me at home, or when I pick him up in the car he kicks off, and he turns around and says he doesn't want to go to school - it's a struggle to get him to school.
'If girls can go in with skirts on without tights, why can't boys go in with shorts? It's a bit sexist isn't it? It can't be one rule for one and then one rule for other.'
According to Department for Education hot weather guidance, schools 'could consider relaxing uniform rules during hot weather to make sure pupils are comfortable' and children should 'wear loose, light-coloured clothing to help keep cool'.
Education consultant Matthew Smith said he thought the school could be breaching the guidance by only allowing dark-coloured trousers.
He said: 'The guidance does not say anything about not letting schools ban shorts,' Smith said.
'In other words, the boys concerned in the article could wear shorts and not be in breach of DfE guidance.'
An Outwood Grange Academies Trust spokesman said: 'All of our academies operate in line with DfE hot weather guidance, with principals making decisions as appropriate for their respective schools.'
When asked if the academy had a specific response to the protesters, the spokesperson refused to comment further.
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