St Hild’s Church of England School criticised for forcing female pupils to wear tights as a ‘safeguarding’ measure

Women’s rights group says a dress code should be applied equally to both boys and girls, adding: ‘That’s just not acceptable in 2015’

School uniform policies have been encouraging debate in the UK in recent months (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A primary school has come under fire from parents and a women’s right group for forcing all female students to wear black tights in order to ‘protect their modesty’.

St Hild’s Church of England School in Hartlepool took to its website to highlight how it had ‘a particular concern at the moment regarding the length of skirts’ as worn by some female students.

Grant Carswell, the deputy head pastoral, highlighted how, in the interest of ‘modesty’ and ensuring children are ‘properly safeguarded on their way to and from school’, the school now requires all female pupils to wear black tights - opaque and no less than 40 denier - when wearing skirts. If this doesn’t suit, black trousers have been suggested as an alternative option.

Read the letter in full which was sent out to parents:

Parents, however, have reacted with fury. One mother, Carol McEnaney, told the Hartlepool Mail how her daughter, Hannah, doesn’t like wearing tights and showed up at the school wearing socks.

According to Mrs McEnaney, Hannah was promptly handed a pair of tights and was told she would be put into isolation or even sent home if she refused to wear them. Describing how the thinks the school’s move is ‘wrong’, she added: “I want to get my point across that girls should have the right to choose.”

The UK’s leading charity for women’s equality and rights, The Fawcett Society, also blasted the school for implementing the new policy, and said it is ‘just not acceptable in 2015’.

The charity’s chief executive, Sam Smethers, told The Independent in a statement: “Girls and young women are being asked to change their behaviour and modify the way they dress, and here is yet another example. That’s just not acceptable in 2015.

“It’s fine for schools to have a uniform and a dress code but let’s see them apply it equally to boys and girls.

“Modesty and safeguarding don’t come into it. What they should be focussing on is opening up a world of opportunity to their young women not controlling what they wear.” She also encouraged debate on the topic by asking people to use the hashtag #DontBlameTheGirls.

Speaking to The Independent, the school’s acting headteacher, Tracey Gibson, described how the letter had unforeseen and unhelpful outcomes, adding that she was sorry the letter’s wording upset some people.

She said: “The length of skirts worn by some of our students has been a subject of concern and this was the catalyst for the letter.

“The interim measures have been put in place to ensure that uniform is appropriate, sensible and conducive to learning.

“The whole question of uniform and dress code will be consulted on in the coming weeks and I ask any parents who have specific views or comments to contact me directly to discuss them.”