Parent anger as primary school asks ALL pupils to wear skirts
Teachers urge dress code for kids as young as 3 ‘to promote equality’
A PRIMARY school has been criticised for encouraging children as young as three to come to nursery or school wearing skirts – to ‘promote equality’.
Teachers at Castleview Primary in Craigmillar, Edinburgh, sent an email to parents asking children to wear skirts to school today.
The controversial dress code follows a similar move in Spain where teachers and many children have worn skirts to show solidarity with a boy who was expelled for wearing one.
One mother called Megan with a son at Castleview tweeted: ‘My son is five and just got this from the school! Let kids be kids.’
Another Twitter user called Nicola said: ‘I mean if a boy really wants to wear a skirt to school, he should be allowed, but why initiate this and put pressure on people to ask their son to wear a skirt or be seen as some sort of bigot?’
The email from the school said the move was aimed at children who were ‘comfortable’ taking part, and that trousers and leggings could be worn together with the skirts.
The school tweeted it was ‘so proud of our P6s’ who wrote to the leadership team to ‘ask if we could support #clotheshavenogender #LaRopaNoTieneGenero’.
The hashtag refers to the campaign in Spain and translates as ‘clothes do not have gender’. The school added: ‘We promote respect, tolerance and understanding and we want our school to be inclusive and promote equality.’
In an email to parents, P6 teachers said: ‘Our P6 pupils have been learning about gender stereotypes and how important it is to break them down.
‘They learnt about a Spanish high school pupil, Mikel Gomez, who was expelled from school last year for wearing a skirt.
‘In response to this, male teachers and many pupils throughout Spain came into school… wearing a skirt to support Mikel and break down gender norms.
‘They started the hashtag #LaRopaNoTieneGenero which means “clothing has no gender” and when our pupils found out about this, they were keen to take part.’
It added: ‘So, this Thursday, November 4, we are asking all pupils and teachers who feel comfortable doing so to wear a skirt to school.
‘Normal uniform should be worn alongside this. We’re keen to spread the message that clothes don’t have a gender and that we should all be free to express ourselves as we choose.
‘If your child is keen to wear a skirt but there are none suitable in your home, your children can ask in school as we have been collecting some for use on Thursday. Trousers, leggings, tights and any layer of choice can be worn underneath the skirts to stay warm!’
A subsequent email from the school, replying to a parent, said: ‘This is a school-wide event covering from nursery to P7 pupils.’
In May, it emerged that male teachers were wearing skirts in the classroom to fight stereotypical gender norms in Spain.
Teachers across the country joined the Clothes Have No Gender movement.
It began on October 27 last year when Mikel Gomez was expelled and referred to psychologists after wearing a skirt to a school in
Bilbao. The boy shared a video on TikTok saying he had wanted to show support for feminism and diversity.
Since then, November 4 has become ‘wear a skirt to school day’ in Spain, while hundreds of students and teachers have joined the movement to show solidarity.
The row comes amid a growing debate over transgender issues in Scottish schools.
Scottish Government recommendations published this year said that Scots schools should allow trans pupils to use the toilets that match their selfidentified gender.
The advice states that schools should not force transgender pupils to use bathrooms or changing rooms based on their ‘sex assigned at birth’.
It is part of the Government’s new guidance for supporting transgender young people in education.
Other recommendations cover PE classes, with guidance that transgender young people should be allowed to take part in the group that matches their gender if PE classes are organised by sex.
The Government says the guidance aims to ensure schools can better support trans people, including by tackling issues such as bullying, safety and privacy.
Education Secretary ShirleyAnne Somerville said the new publication gave practical examples for how schools could support young people.
‘Why put pressure on people?’