TeacheRs are allegedly patrolling school corridors armed with wet wipes to force pupils to remove make-up as part of a uniform crackdown, which also bans coloured bras. Pupils at The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury, Greater Manchester, say they are being threatened with expulsion and denied access to the canteen unless they remove the beauty products.
They also claim to have been banned from wearing coloured bras, because male students are being “distracted”.
There is also a clamp down on tight trousers and short skirts, students claim.
Student Holly Hopkins said pupils were ready to revolt following the newly-enforced rules, which she says have never been strictly adhered to until now.
The 15-year-old, from Didsbury, claimed scores of young women at the school – many of whom suffer from acne – have been left feeling self-conscious after being shouted at for wearing make-up.
She said teachers are patrolling the school, carrying make-up wipes in hand, telling students to clean their faces.
She said, “There’s always been a ban on make-up. But they’ve never really enforced it, until the start of this term. They’ve been making us take part in make-up checks. If they see girls with make-up on, they’ve been made to take it off straight away. Girls with spots can’t even wear a little bit of foundation to cover them up and make themselves feel better. Some girls were told they couldn’t go into the canteen unless they took off their make-up – and been threatened that they could be expelled.”
One pupil, who asked not to be named through fear of reprisal, said the new rules were causing a “massive uproar”, while Kerry Axon said, “My daughter goes here. Came home today saying that girls are no longer allowed to wear tight pants, tight skirts or coloured bras because it’s distracting for the boys and if they do they will be sent home.”
Another student said, “All I have had is torture since the half term – teachers screaming in my face telling me to take all my make-up off when I’m crying. It’s not fair because I have spots. It’s making us upset and not able to work properly because we are trying to hide and not let people see us because we are not confident. It was never this bad until now. We aren’t even allowed concealer or foundation anymore.”
The Barlow’s uniform policy, outlined on its website, reads, “Our pupils are ambassadors of the school and are expected to dress and behave in a way that reflects the standards we seek to achieve.”
Headteacher Claire McCarron said, “We’re incredibly lucky as a school to have some of the nicest, most articulate and hard-working students of any school in the country.