Hackney’s Bridge Academy head ‘keeping mum’ over uniform mistake
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A mum is baffled as to why her daughter was sent home for wearing “inappropriate uniform” – because the girl’s headteacher won’t say what was inappropriate about it.
Toni Collins’ 12-year-old daughter was also given a detention by the Bridge Academy in Laburnum Street, Haggerston, and sent home with a letter saying she had dressed inappropriately.
But the school has remained bizarrely tight-lipped about what was actually wrong with the clothes, which in photographs seen by the Gazette appear to meet all the uniform guidelines.
Toni first contacted the school to ask for more details, and says she was told her daughter should have been wearing a skirt instead of trousers. But the school’s website states girls are allowed to wear either trousers or skirts as long as they are grey.
Her daughter – who does not wish to be named – was forced to attend an hour’s detention after school last Wednesday over the alleged infraction.
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But despite phoning the school twice more, Ms Collins claims she is still unclear what her daughter did wrong. She suspects the trousers may have been the “wrong shade of grey”, but there is no information about this in the uniform policy.
The Gazette also contacted the Bridge Academy to ask whether this was possible – but the school refused to budge on its lack of comment. When asked again why the girl was sent home, The Bridge denied knowledge of which pupil we were talking about.
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After we sent a photo of the girl in the clothes she was wearing before and after changing, with Toni’s permission, they could still shed no light on the matter.
Janet Guise, PA to principal Mr C Brown, told the Gazette: “The uniform policy is clearly available on The Bridge Academy website.”
“I just don’t know what to make of it all,” said Toni. “It really agitates me, especially as my daughter had to attend an hour’s detention after school.
“The trousers were admittedly dark grey whereas the skirt is a lighter shade, but it states in the rules they are allowed to wear trousers. It doesn’t state what shade of grey.
“She was allowed to attend classes the next day in the very same colour grey skirt as the trousers.”
