For the past couple of days the newspapers have been buzzing with a story summed up in this Daily Telegraph headline:
‘Head teacher tells parents to stop wearing pyjamas on school run’
The Daily Mail, rather more pointedly, talked about an ‘unrepentant slummy mummy’, referring to a mother who responded to the Headteacher’s letter by taking her child to school in red pyjamas decorated with snowflakes.
The story concerns the Skerne Park Academy’s Headteacher, Kate Chisholm, letter to parents that notices:
‘the increasing tendency of parents to escort their children to and from school while still wearing their pyjamas and, on occasion, even their slippers’.
She goes on to ask parents to:
‘take the time to dress appropriately in day wear suitable for the weather conditions’.
She continues:
‘While this may seem to some like a minor point, I am sure you will agree that it’s important for all of us to set our children a good example about what is appropriate and acceptable in all aspects of life…’.
She then thanks parents for their cooperation in helping ‘our’ children’s aspirations.
I’ll come back to the letter shortly. Continue reading
Bernard Spiegal 