Shorts protest leads to expulsions

School uniform was the spark

A school has expelled three pupils and suspended others following a disturbance which began with a demand for boys to be allowed to wear shorts in hot weather.

At one stage two pairs of police officers attended the incident involving up to 90 pupils at Tiverton High School, a comprehensive in north Devon.

Some pupils had picked up rounders bats being used in a PE lesson while others ran through the school and a fire alarm was set off.

The school is referring callers to the local education authority, whose spokesman played down newspaper suggestions that there had been a "mini riot".

He said police were called but essentially merely showed their presence. There was no damage.

Warnings

But three pupils, said to have had "a history", have been permanently excluded by the head teacher, Katrina Borowski.

Four others have been excluded for 10 days, and "a number of others" for a couple of days as a warning.

The exclusions are subject to ratification by the school's governors, to whom parents can appeal.

The trouble happened on the Friday before last - immediately before the half-term holiday.

The protest began over a demand for pupils to be able to wear short trousers in the hot weather.

"The head appreciated that it was very hot," the spokesman said.

Had the children dealt with it through their school council or even approached the head directly, she thought it likely the governors would have agreed to amend the school's dress code, he added.