Carnival
We need something cheerful and pretty, and fortunately there is the Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge, which happened yesterday.
Tip Jar
We need something cheerful and pretty, and fortunately there is the Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge, which happened yesterday.
A little more fun news: 30 boys at a school in Exeter, Devon, were banned from wearing shorts to school despite the hot weather. They all turned up in regulation skirts instead.
Brilliant. And the funny thing is, they don’t look silly in them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/40386716
I saw this a few days ago. We’ve just had what passes for a heatwave in the UK, with temperatures of 30-34C (that’s 86-93F for you colonials!) The boys, quite understandably, asked to wear shorts. The head teacher, rather unreasonably IMO, told them no, shorts were not part of the school uniform, and made a little “joke” about how, perhaps, they could wear skirts, which are on the official uniform list.
So they did.
Most UK schools with policies like this are sensible enough to allow children to wear shorts on the hottest days, even if they aren’t on the uniform list. After all, this is the UK. If we have ten days a year that hot, it’s exceptional. Some will allow children to wear their regulation PE kit (usually shorts and a polo top or similar) on exceptionally hot days. Many have optional alternative uniforms for the summer term – shorts and short sleeved shirts for boys, dresses, or skirts with short sleeved blouses for girls).
One thing I did read is that the boys are now supporting the girls who have complained their skirts are very cold in the winter. The girls want to be able to wear trousers. This is evidently a very, very old fashioned school. It’s fairly standard for UK girl’s school uniforms to have the options of either skirt or trousers, or to just have trousers. The girls tend to prefer trousers – warmer, more practical, ease of movement, more modest (not a minor consideration when you’re around poorly socialised teenage boys all day), and for girls with cultural modesty standards, it’s easier to keep them with trousers and a long sweater/cardigan over the shirt and tie.
It is a delightful story. I’m quite proud of those kids, not only for wearing the skirts in the first place but also for immediately understanding the problems the girls have on cold days and supporting their campaign to be allowed to wear trousers.