A parent has hit out at a Darlington school following a controversial text message regarding uniform sent from the headteacher to all parents.

The parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, has a child at Longfield Academy and she was shocked by the "sexist and ‘inappropriate" language in the text message referring to schoolgirls and the notion of bare legs.

The text message, written by new headteacher Angela Sweeten said: “If your child wears a skirt, please ensure they wear black tights. This is for modesty and decency purposes. Thank you.”

The mother who took issue with this text said that this is sexualising young girls by suggesting they are being immodest and indecent by not wearing black tights.

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The parent said: “I don’t think a teacher should be using that kind of language when talking about young girls because language influences people’s attitudes and the language used in that text will influence children’s attitudes towards girls and women as they’re growing up - and that affects boys as much as it affects girls.

“The uniform policy on the website says if tights are worn they should be plain not patterned. That text wasn’t phrased to say the policy had now changed so should parents pay attention to uniform policy on the website or that text message?”

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The official uniform policy on Longfield Academy’s website states: “If tights are worn, they must be plain and not patterned”, implying that tights are not mandatory, as opposed to the text message sent by Mrs Sweeten.

Mrs Sweeten said: “Over the course of the last few weeks there has been a number of informal conversations regarding school uniforms.

"This has led me to write to parents/carers on Friday, June 24 to begin a formal consultation exercise - the process will also involve input from pupils and staff. 

"Any changes to the policy will be communicated to the school community prior to the summer holiday.”

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