Girls at Herne Bay High School could soon be forced to wear trousers following fears their skirts are too short.

Principal Dr Claire Owen has sent a letter home to parents warning the ban will have to be enforced if their daughters continue to flout school rules and put themselves at risk.

Currently girls are allowed to wear skirts that are no higher than 10cm above the knee, but Dr Owen says many girls are ignoring the limits.

She said: “Despite repeated interventions from staff to uphold this policy, a significant number of our girls are choosing to wear their skirts much shorter than this.

“This trend is causing us serious safeguarding concerns, and I am sure that you are as concerned as we are that some of our female students are putting themselves at risk, and as such will be fully supportive of our attempts to keep them safe.”

Dr Owen says repeat offenders will be forced to wear trousers and warned an outright ban on skirts could be enforced.

She said: “We will be monitoring this situation over the next few weeks and will continue to encourage our girls to wear their skirts appropriately at all times, including on the way to school, whilst at school and on the way home from school.

“In extreme circumstances we may feel the need to insist that, for particular girls and due to significant concerns, they wear trousers to school.

“Should this situation not drastically improve across the entire school we will be left with no option but to temporarily remove the option of a skirt from our school uniform and have a ‘trousers only’ policy for all of our female students.”

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