Parents' anger over uniform checks

The plea comes from parents of Year 11 students at the University of Chester Academy Northwich (UCAN), who say “obsessive” uniform checks by staff are disrupting their children’s education.

The checks took place last week against a backdrop of change at the top of UCAN, which has a new principal following the departure of Matthew Wood.

Parents were told in a letter that Mr Wood had decided to leave the school for personal reasons “to concentrate on his family and the challenges of impending fatherhood.”

UCAN was placed in special measures by Ofsted following an inspection in February, and is now being led by interim principal Catherine Green, who the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT) said had taken over “to ensure the Academy continues to make rapid progress.”

In response to a question to UCAT from the Guardian about the uniform checks, Mrs Green said: “Unfortunately, the uniform incident in question did take place but was quickly resolved, and colleagues have been reminded that while uniform expectations are important, the Academy’s main focus is on teaching and learning.

“Parents can be assured that such uniform checks, which go beyond our standard good practice, will not happen again.”

Two monitoring inspections have taken place at the school since it was placed in special measures, the second at the beginning of last month.

Following the inspection Mr Wood was told by Ofsted the Academy was not making enough progress towards the removal of special measures, and it strongly recommended the school did not seek to appoint newly-qualified teachers.

The letter to parents about the change in leadership said Mrs Green would be working alongside Tom Quinn, executive principal for UCAT academies, “to deliver the best possible education for your son or daughter”.

Parents voiced their concerns over the uniform checks at a meeting last week at which Mrs Green and Mr Quinn set out the improvements plans for UCAN.

Parents and a Year 11 pupil also contacted the Guardian to express their frustration over last week’s checks, and asked not to be named.

The pupil was among a number of Year 11 students who had been taken out of science lessons last Wednesday following uniform checks by teachers.

“About 10 pupils got pulled out of science because of the colour of their socks, and we had to go to the hall, where we waited for 30 minutes for a senior member of staff,” he said.

“This is my last year in school, and everyone wants to do well in their exams, but a lot of pupils are sick of all the changes, including the uniform policy change, and the disruption it is causing.”

The father of a Year 11 student was also concerned by the socks check.

“There have to be rules, but they don’t have to be so pedantic about things, and UCAT is turning things upside down,” he said.

“They should be concentrating on the education and settling the children down and getting them on their side.

“There are education issues that need to be addressed, and there are a lot of unhappy students and disgruntled parents.”

A fellow parent said her daughter was among pupils taken out of class last Monday for a Year 11 assembly about uniform policy.

“Year 11 is the most important year of their school lives, but the school is prepared to be so petty and take children out of a GCSE controlled assessment,” she said.

“We would like the school to concentrate on education and not be bombarding our children with uniform requests.”

Another Year 11 parent accused the school of being “borderline obsessive” about uniform, adding “school is about the education of children and not what they wear.”

A UCAT spokesman said Mrs Green was an experienced senior leader from another UCAT academy, who would continue to implement the systems and processes which formed part of the structured UCAT school improvement programme.

“Mrs Green has had first-hand experience of embedding and delivering this programme, and so will be able to continue the rapid momentum of improvement already started,” he said.