AN petition has been launched by school pupils upset at planss to ban them from wearing knee high socks.

Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School, in Woods Avenue, Hatfield, will introduce rules meaning skirts cannot be more than three inches above the knee and tights should be worn rather than socks.

The changes will come into force in September after the school received complaints from parents and members of the public about how some girls looked when they were in the town.

Students at the school, who are aged between 11 and 16, have now started an online petition calling for the new regulations to be reviewed.

Set up by The Student Body of Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School, the petition has, so far, been signed by more than 60 people.

The change.org petition’s statement says: “In this world, there is a lot of pressure on young people, especially girls, to look and behave a certain way.

“The new rules will make girls of a young age more uncomfortable in their bodies and can promote things like body-shaming as well as lad culture.”

One person wrote on the petition: “We’re here to learn, for god’s sake!

“Not be forced to feel uncomfortable (and hot in the summer) in an environment where we’re worried about how high our skirt is while a teacher patrols the corridors threatening to measure the space between our knees and our skirts.”

Headteacher Theodora Nickson said she was not aware of the online petition.

She said that over the last year around 10 complaints had been made about the state of the girls’ uniform.

“They wear their socks over the knee, and short skirts and it does not present them in the best light,” she said.

“My concern is that members of the public will judge our girls and the school because of it. We are just strengthening the uniform rules. Most girls wear tights anyway.

“Socks have not been banned, [outright] but the girls have been charged with the task of dressing appropriately.”

She added that on hot days girls could be given the opportunity to wear socks.

To view the petition, click on the link on the top right of this page.