BACK to school and not a bare leg in sight, pupils at Kesgrave High were today resigning themselves to a life without skirts.The school hit the headlines in June when its head teacher and governors took the drastic action of banning girls from wearing skirts.

BACK to school and not a bare leg in sight, pupils at Kesgrave High were today resigning themselves to a life without skirts.

The school hit the headlines in June when its head teacher and governors took the drastic action of banning girls from wearing skirts.

From today onwards female pupils must wear trousers as part of the introduction of a new uniform, and as pupils headed back to school this morning it looked as though initial protests against the idea had subsided.

Jacqui Galea, 15, of Browns Grove, was one of those preparing to return to school in her trousers.

She said: "I don't really mind it at the moment but I think when it comes to the summer it will be really annoying.

"Everyone was really angry when they first told us they were going to introduce the ban but people have kind of calmed down now."

Pupils have been told they must only wear one of two types of trousers, available from the National Schoolwear Centre in Ipswich, and very flared trousers have been ruled out.

Miss Galea said: "I think it will be very difficult to enforce that. I know most of my friends and I have just bought trousers from wherever we like.

"People are still going to want to be fashion conscious and the trousers the school told us to wear were not very nice."

The outright ban on skirts was the first of its kind in the country and made headlines around the world, after The Evening Star's exclusive story.

Headteacher George Thomas said the decision had been made in response to the "impractical" skirts that many pupils had begun to wear and that the new uniform was designed with an "active curriculum" in mind.

Chairman of governors Margaret Young said: "We simply do not want our girls going outside with a come-hither look."

The Equal Opportunities Commission said pupils could have a case for unlawful sex discrimination.

The new uniform for girls consists of dark blue trousers, a light blue polo-shirt with the school's crest on and a dark blue round neck sweatshirt, also with the school's crest.

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