A British teenager has reportedly been removed from her school classes because she can’t fit into a pleated skirt.
Shylah Johnson’s frustrated mum argues that her daughter’s hips are too wide to wear the specific skirt which is required as part of the uniform.
Our sister title Leicestershire Live reports how Shylah Johnson has been made to isolate at her school, Brookvale Groby Learning Campus, after her mum spent hours searching for a pleated skirt that her daughter could wear.
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Her mum tried popular high street brands such as Marks & Spencer, New Look, Next, Matalan, and Primark over the school holiday but complained that she can’t find any off-the-peg black pleated skirts that would fit.
Despite the headteacher offering the family help to tailor a skirt to fit Shylah, they haven't yet come to a resolution.
Frustrated mum Daisy and her partner, Dharmesh Patel say they were forced to send Shylah back to school wearing a plain black skirt, instead of a pleated one. But after failing to wear the correct skirt he was taken out of her classes and placed in isolation.
Daisy told the paper: "We have spent hundreds of pounds ordering skirts that didn't fit and returning them, we've tried everywhere. But because she has wide hips and a small waist the skirts don't fit properly.
"So we had to get her a regular skirt that does fit, but she was immediately sent to isolation because of it not being pleated.
"She has missed two tests already this week because she can't be in full-time education, all because her skirt doesn't have pleats in it.
"She's being discriminated against, really, because she doesn't have a body shape for their uniform policy. The school even gave us one of their skirts for her to wear and it doesn't fit at all around her waist."
The family say that despite holding talks with the school they have been unable to come to a solution.
She said: "They told us to just turn it down and wear it like that for now, but there's a lot of gap off her waist and it doesn't fit.
"It's not like she doesn't want to wear the school skirt. She is in Year 8 and wore one throughout her first year. But she's had a growth spurt over the summer and her old one doesn't fit.
"She has issues with her anxiety at the best of times and this really isn't helping.
"The school has told us if they let her wear a plain black skirt, others will use it as an excuse to wear one.
"But it's not the case for her, they should be punished for breaking the uniform policy willingly, Shylah would only be breaking it because she has no other option."
The Headteacher at Brookvale Groby Learning Campus, Will Teece, said that the school has worked with the family to take Shylah out of isolation and has even offered to have a pleated skirt tailored to her size.
He said: "The school has had the same uniform policy for many years, we've provided the family with a skirt, offered to take them to the shops, and offered to have it tailored - bit it simply seems like she doesn't want to wear the skirt.
"We've got 1,500 other students who have not had any issues with their uniform and have settled well into the start of the new academic year.
"We'll do all we can to offer support to students to get them the right uniform, and everyone else on campus is in the right uniform.
"We'd like nothing more than to get the student back into full-time education, and we feel we have offered more than enough options for the parent and student to do this."
