Shropshire school’s uniform policy ‘breaches human rights’
Thursday 24th June 2010, 6:00PM BST.
A Shropshire mother today called for a school to change its uniform rules amid claims they breach children’s human rights.
Nichola Mountford, from Ellesmere, claims her 15-year-old son Daniel and about 40 other Year 10 children at The Marches School in Oswestry were “humiliated” by allegedly not being allowed to wear the distinctive Year 11 uniform because their behaviour was deemed not good enough.
Marches School headteacher Sarah Longville
She said the school’s policy was to allow well-behaved pupils in Year 10 to wear their new Year 11 uniform of black V-neck jumper and tie this term, once the year’s Year 11s had left.
But those pupil whose behaviour had not reached the required standard were forced to remain in the lower school’s navy blue uniform, she said.
Today the school’s headteacher said the policy had not been changed and it was “working to resolve” the matter. But it would not comment on individual cases.
Mrs Mountford said today that after arguing with the school about the policy, she had been told Daniel could now wear the black uniform.
Discriminatory
But she has called for the policy to now be scrapped for every child.
Mrs Mountford said: “It is discriminatory and humiliating for those children, making them stand out, and under the Children’s Human Rights Act they should not be humiliated in such a way.
“The school has a duty to protect children from degrading and humiliating behaviour.
“I wrote to the school about it and was called in to a meeting at the school on Tuesday and told Daniel is welcome to wear the black Year 11 uniform now.
“They said most of the other children affected by this will also be allowed to wear the Year 11 uniform. I got the impression that they had just not considered the consequences of the policy.
“I have won the right for Daniel to wear the black uniform but other children might have to go through this.”
The mother said she had investigated the Children’s Human Rights Act and then wrote to the school, the school’s chairman of governors and to Shropshire Education Authority about her concerns.
School headteacher Sarah Longville said the policy had not been changed.
By Iain St John
She said: “Our policy on uniform remains the same as it has for many years and while we are working to resolve this particular matter we are unable to comment further on individual cases.”
Shropshire Council spokeswoman Felicity Roberts said that school uniform policy was a matter for each individual school in the county.
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Perhaps if the youngster’s behaviour had been satisfactory throughout the previous year, then he wouldn’t have to feel “humiliated”. Another example of ridiculous political correctness.
It’s a simple concept that has stood the test of time. Reward good behaviour and punish poor behaviour.
Perhaps the parents would do well to support the school instead of raising the profile of this young man.
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sorry to say but this is not part of the marches school uniform policy,and when children do wrong they are punished for it the punishment doesnt need to continue who ever u r the school dont need to be the bullys and all children make mistakes.
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I was going to make a comment but, d’you know what, I don’t have the energy.
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Anything that discourages unwelcome behaviour can only be a good idea.
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What a joke, its called punishment, this usually comprises of some form of humiliation. another “do gooder – my child is perfect” type parent who is undermining the schools disciplinary procedure. this rule was in place when I was in the Marches, we were aware of it and behaved!
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no not at all no child is perfect but these children for what ever they had done wrong had already been punished,dont need to be punished twice.
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Nichola, you really need something to do!!!!!
Go get a charity job as you obviously don’t need a paid job as you are so willing to fork out for a new uniform and it is you who have humiliated Daniel by bringing this nonsence to the attention of the public, and for what??? your own ego I suspect.
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In my day the teacher would have given me the cane for misbehaving. I would have been humiliated and upset by this…. but I also learnt from it! It did not do me or my peers any harm, in fact just the opposite!
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It is of course, tempting to comment without having all the facts.
On the basis of the story as reported, I am tempted to say that if the mother had spent as much time instilling some discipline into her child as she had invested in reseaching their “human rights” then maybe there would have been no need for the school to restrict the uniform?
I would also say that perhaps being able to wear the uniform of year 11 while still in year 10 is a priviledge to be EARNED and not a fundamental RIGHT?
What message does this send in society that the best way to be rewarded is to misbehave then whine and moan and complain ?
What about the other year 10′s who HAVE behaved and now see that it matters not a jot how you behave?
I hope the school stands firm on this one!
When I was at school I yearned for the time when I could wear a striped blazer reserved for 6th form boys which seemed “cool” at the time. Alas by the time I got there it had been abandoned.
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its a pathetic form of punishment they cant use it for the other children in years7,8,and 9 what ever these kids had done wrong they have done there punishment it say what u like its not acceptable.i would say a priveledge is to be head boy head girl or a prefect not the colour of the jumper is the standard year 11 uniform anyway.no other school has this childish policy and its not part of the marches uniform policy.
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Have to agree with the other commentators… if this mother’s aim was to humiliate her son by disclosing to all readers of the star, (a significant proportion of the county), then mission accomplished!
Spend your efforts teaching your little darling how to behave instead of mischief making with the authorities, then you might just bring up a decent member of society!
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Well, we all now know that Daniel Mountford is a badly behaved boy. Thanks Nicola!
Surely the point is that well behaved pupils are rewarded. Its not “punishing” the others to continue wearing Year 10 uniform as they are, in fact, still in year 10. If the school were to force year 11 pupils to wear year 10 uniform if their behavious was not up to scratch, that would be a different matter.
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They know all of their ‘rights’ but they know nothing of their ‘responsibilities’.
Raising a generation of whiners.
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The school were not discriminating against the miscreants, they were rewarding the well-behaved with a privileged. This mother’s action is ill considered and smacks of a misplaced sense of entitlement.
In this day and age of teenage multiple abortion madness, won’t someone think of the children?
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What a pathetic parent – she should have devoted her time and effort to upholding the Human Rights of others in the school to teach and learn without being disrupted by her wayward son. My sympathy goes out to the Headteacher who has had to waste her time (and our taxpayers money) dealing with this spurious complaint. Get a life Ms Mountford, or better still keep your off spring under control !
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I hope the headteacher sticks to her principles and rewards only those children who have worked hard.
I agree with the other commentators that all the concerned mother has achived is to see her dear son humiliated further. When will parents learn that maybe their child isn’t perceived as perfect by others, and may indeed by different when with his/her peers.
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I’m glad the mother has spent so much time and effort to show what a spoilt little child she has.
all this effort, and for 4 weeks at the most get a life Ms Mountford and teach your child how to behave in public
Now young Daniel has been publicly humiliated I hope you’re proud.
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I’m actually gobsmacked that the mother thought that this was a human rights issue. The boy misbehaved and therefore didn’t receive a privilege that the well behaved children did.
The human rights Act, Mrs Mountford, is in place to ensure that people are dealt with in a fair manner, free from abuse and pain, NOT for you to whinge about school uniform. Oh, and take some responsibility for your son’s behaviour. You’re not exactly setting him a good example on this one, are you? If my children misbehave, they are disciplined, not encouraged to stand up to the teachers and say “you can’t do nuffin cos I can get you done.”
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I agree with the general sentiment of my fellow commenters.
Rewarding good behavior is very different to a perceived punishment for bad behavior. It doesn’t appear that anyone is being punished based on the info available. Unless you view with-holding a reward that has not been earned a punishment.
As the story has been out there for a while, maybe Mrs Mountford would like the opportunity for rebuttal?
Surely she will want to defend her darling child as I am sure we all have the wrong end of the stick?
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I love it when these ” i shall write to the papers, That’ll show em ” letters backfire.
11, has it spot on, this is a reward for those who deserve it, not a punishment for those who don’t
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