A campaigning schoolboy donned a skirt at school after teachers refused to let male students wear shorts during the hot weather. Sandy Page, 47, said her son Toby, 13, wore a skirt after having to wear trousers during the "sweltering hot" heatwave when temperatures hit 29C.
A group of Year 8 boys, including Toby, donned shorts last week in protest. However, after being reprimanded they launched a petition demanding that boys be allowed to wear them during hot weather.
The petition has since been signed by 700 people - including parents at the school and female students at Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge, Suffolk. To get his point across, Toby decided to borrow a female classmates skirt on Monday - as it was technically not against the rules - and wear it for the day.
He said: "It's really unfair because girls are allowed to wear trousers or skirts, but boys have to wear trousers. We've all been swelteringly hot. You stop concentrating when you get really hot and bothered, which is why we're at school.
"A group of boys in my year decided to come in with shorts to try and ease the heat a bit and get our point across. Some people got in trouble and we all got some warnings.
"We were annoyed, but we were expecting it because it is still technically against the rules. So I asked my friend to lend me skirt because I was still following the rules but getting my point across."
Toby changed into the skirt on the bus in the morning. He said some teachers questioned him and he received some "weird looks", but he managed to stay in the skirt for the entire school day.
His mum Sandy, a swimming teacher, said: "There's a lot of support for it amongst the parents. The petitions has been signed by a lot of parents and there's been support on Facebook too.
"Most agree that when it's too hot it's ideal to have another option. They're not asking to wear sports shorts.
"They only want to wear smart tailored shorts. The world is changing and there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to wear shorts."
A spokesperson from Farlingaye High School said: “Farlingaye High School has an established uniform protocol, which is in line with other high schools. We review this protocol on a regular basis and welcome the contributions to this process of our students, who are always entitled to express their views.
"We will consider any suggestions made by parents, carers or students, which can be given to the school using the established channels.”
