A mum slammed her daughter's school after 'hundreds' of girls were sent home on the first day of the year - because their skirts were too short.

The Ebbsfleet Academy has been labelled 'irresponsible' for turning away girls at the school gate, with one parent claiming the school is 'letting kids down'.

The secondary school's website specifies that girls can wear a navy A-line skirt 'of a suitable length for school, that is, no more than 5cm above the knee'.

But local mum Kim O'Brien posted on Facebook to claim her 15-year-old daughter was turned away alongside 'about 200' other girls on their first day back, on Tuesday.

The community nurse said: "The school sent letters home before Christmas asking us to check that our daughters' skirts weren't more than five centimetres above the knee.

"My daughter turned up to school today in her old school skirt, which she's never had a problem with before, and they told her to stand to one side and wouldn't let her in.

"There's nothing wrong with her skirt, it's sensible and the right length - she came in a minute ago and it isn't that short.

"When I contacted the school, they said they'd sent her away with a letter about how she could come in and change her skirt but they just left them outside.

"They're letting their pupils down by turning them away, they're shutting the gates in their faces for silly reasons" -Kim O'Brien

"They should have let them in rather than just leaving them on the street.

"I've looked at some of the girls outside and there are some girls in very short skirts but she isn't one of them. According to some of the kids they sent away about 200 pupils."

The community mental health nurse says the school is letting down less well-off pupils, and believes it is unsafe to leave children wandering the streets.

She says the academy has failed in its duty of care to vulnerable children, particularly those who may have nowhere else to go.

The mum-of-three added: "They're letting their pupils down by turning them away, they're shutting the gates in their faces for silly reasons.

"I'm very angry - school is a place where these kids should be able to feel safe, they just want to go to school.

"There are a lot of children in the community who will have had a c**p Christmas, they're very vulnerable and don't have things like heating and now the school are turning them away.

"What if they get run over, raped or attacked? It's bitterly cold and kids who can't get home will be left on the streets."

She has now complained to the school, but says that because they are an academy, she has struggled to get any answers.

The mum claims her requests for a meeting with the governors was refused, and that there is no-one accountable to parents when things do go wrong.

She said: "I've sent a lot of emails complaining, but because they're an academy, they're a business. They're not governed by the county council, so who is really in charge?

"When this happened before, I sent an email to school saying I wanted a meeting with governor and was refused. I pay my tax for my child to go to school and I just don't know who is responsible for things."

It's not the first time the school has come under fire for its hard line stance. Five per cent of pupils at the beginning of September for rule infringements such as drawing on eyebrows and coloured shoe tags.

In April, the school banned parents from the grounds unless they had an appointment after some were violent and abusive towards staffwhen the school reopened in its current guise having previously been known as Swan Valley Community School

.

The strict uniform policy was first criticised in September 2013,

. Head teacher Alison Colwell has previously defended the school's uniform policy.

The Ebbsfleet Academy have been contacted for a comment.

Meanwhile, more than 80 pupils at a Maidstone academy have spent their first day back at school today excluded from normal lessons, while others have been sent home for "unacceptable" behaviour.

The pupils at New Line Learning Academy failed to heed warnings from the school’s new principal Jane Hadlow that she would be coming down hard on those failing to meet the uniform rules.