Elite private school gets a dressing down after it says boys can wear skirts

Disgruntled alumni of Highgate School sign petition opposing ‘gender neutral’ uniform policy

IT WAS meant to be a progressive reform, designed to create a comfortable environment for students questioning their gender identity.

But Highgate School’s proposed “gender neutral” uniform policy – under which boys would be permitted to wear skirts – has provoked a furious backlash among alumni.

The £20,000-a-year north London school currently has an option for girls to wear a grey, pleated skirt. Earlier this year the school drew up plans for a mix-and-match uniform policy that would not specify a different requirement for boys and girls.

An email has been circulated among members of the Old Cholmeleian ( OC) Society – which boasts a membership of 6,000 former students and teachers – warning that to allow boys to wear skirts would be “seriously misguided”.

The email, which is addressed to “all known members of the OC Society”, says that its aim is to “mobilise as much opposition to this as possible”.

“This would be both deluded and disturbing for pupils at a formative and highly impressionable age, and also damaging to the reputation of the school,” the message reads.

OC Society members are invited to sign a petition stating whether they are for or against the policy, so that a majority view can be submitted to the board of governors.

After learning of the petition, Adam Pettitt, Highgate School’s headmaster, wrote to alumni to explain the proposed changes, and assure them boys will “not be required to wear skirts”.

Mr Pettitt said he hoped that “the great majority of those connected to Highgate, present and past, will see that we are adjusting in the light of cur- rent pupils’ and parents’ views, societal change and clinical advice”.

A number of members of the OC Society have written to the headmaster to express their misgivings. One such letter explains that, “I am writing to register the strongest possible objection to the preposterous proposal”.

The letter, from a retired company director, said it was “quite extraordinary” that the change was being considered. He said it would “send a most unhelpful and unwelcome signal to impressionable young men and teenagers during their formative years”.

The school allows children to request that staff address them by a name of the opposite gender, which around half a dozen have done. One boy has also been allowed to wear a dress.

Mr Pettitt said: “We have been looking at the latest clinical advice on ways best to cater for the needs of transgender or gender-querying young people. The indications are that small changes to uniform and to language can make a huge difference.”