SCHOOLS across the region today expressed sympathy with Darlington headteacher Kate Chisholm's plea for parents to leave their pyjamas at home when dropping their children at school.

But some said they would have adopted a different approach than the one by Skerne Park Academy.

Janine Gleeson, headteacher at St George’s Academy in Darlington said her school might take action if parents regularly wore pyjamas.

"If it’s a one off because they are running late it would be alright," se said.

But she added: “If it’s a regular event it might be different. Children’s role models need to set the standards.”

A spokeswoman for Darlington's West Park Academy said it was not an issue at the school.

“But I can understand why they did that," she said.

"If it’s affecting their education that’s got to be their primary concern.”

Patricia Monk, headteacher at North Park Primary School, in Spennymoor, said parents occasionally wear bed clothes to drop children off at school.

But she said: “I’ve never felt the need to write to parents about it. I understand why the head did it but sometimes I think that approach can turn something into a bigger issue than it was to begin with."

She added: “Our job is to educate children and we hope to educate adults along the way but we cannot solve these problems all of the time.”

Simon Rudd, headteacher at St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School, in Bishop Auckland, said: “We have had incidents in the past but just had a quiet word and that seems to have had the desired effect as I cannot think of it happening in a year or so."

The letter sent to parents by Ms Chisholm is similar to those sent by headteachers of 11 primary schools in Middlesbrough in 2011.

However, headteachers of those schools either declined to comment or were unavailable to speak today.

A spokesman for Middlesbrough Borough Council said: "At the time (in 2011) the council’s line was that it would support any decision of the headteachers but that it’s entirely in their gift, and there's been no change."

Schools in North Yorkshire said they weren’t aware of parents routinely turning up to school in nightwear.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “If it were an issue for individual schools it would probably be something they would chose to address themselves.”