What consideration has the Cabinet Secretary given to allowing students to wear PE kit to schools on days where they have PE, allowing them to avoid issues with shared changing rooms if they wish to do so?
The Welsh Government encourages all governing bodies to have a school uniform, and to develop a uniform policy after consultation with parents, pupils and stakeholders. Properly developed and appropriately implemented, a school uniform can provide a sense of identity, community and cohesion within the school and support positive behaviour and school discipline.
We have published statutory guidance which provides useful advice on developing school uniform policy. Our guidance states that governing bodies should adopt a sensitive, flexible approach that has regard to the equality issues outlined in the guidance. We know that pupils’ participation in PE lessons can be adversely affected because of the clothing that they are required to wear, and all pupils should feel comfortable about their PE clothing. Schools should choose a PE kit which is practical, comfortable, appropriate to the activity involved, and affordable.
Where the governing body has put in place a school uniform policy and/or rules about appearance, it is for the head teacher to enforce these as part of his or her overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the school.
You may be aware that in the coming months we will be undertaking a review of our safeguarding arrangements, and I have asked officials to ensure that consideration is given to shared changing rooms within schools as part of that work. In addition, we will also look to update our existing Keeping Learners Safe guidance, this will be subject to full public consultation.