![\"Bristol](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Bristol-Free-School.jpg\")
Bristol Free School, in Southmead(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\nThe UK Health Security Agency has issued an amber alert because of the heatBristol Free School, in Southmead(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\n
Parents at a Bristol secondary school said they are frustrated and angry after dozens of children were turned away at the school gates this week – because they arrived wearing PE kit because of the heatwave.<\/p>\n
Parents claimed some classes at Bristol Free School in Southmead<\/a> had more than half their pupils missing on Thursday because of the strict uniform policy school leaders impose.<\/p>\n On Friday, the school sent an email to parents saying that students didn\u2019t have to wear the regulation school tie, but more pupils were turned away at the school gates this morning as they arrived in the PE kit of polo shirts and shorts.<\/p>\n One parent, whose son was sent home on Thursday morning, said the school\u2019s \u2018inflexibility was ridiculous\u2019. \u201cThere have been lots of complaints this week, and for many months and years, about how rigid the school uniform is,\u201d said the parent, who didn\u2019t want to be named.<\/p>\n \u201cLots of parents have asked the school leadership and gone to the governors, and the students themselves have got petitions up. There was a review of uniform policy last year, which decided it shouldn\u2019t change,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s inherently sexist too, because girls can wear skirts or trousers and boys have to wear trousers, they are not allowed to wear shorts. So when we get extremely hot weather<\/a> like yesterday (Thursday) was, then boys in particular get very hot,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of frustration. There\u2019s a feeling that the school doesn\u2019t have the wellbeing of the students as a priority, that they are more concerned with the image of the school, and this is a genuine concern because of the heat,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The school\u2019s uniform is a Bristol Free School badged blazer, plain pale blue shirt, tie and charcoal-coloured trousers or skirts. Blazers are not compulsory during the summer term. The school\u2019s uniform policy on its website states: \u201cThe school may relax uniform requirements from time-to-time, for example in particularly hot weather.\u201d<\/p>\n Last July, after the governors met to discuss the lobbying from parents to change the school uniform policy, including making it more flexible in hot weather or allowing boys to wear shorts, chair of governors Anne-Marie Boyle told parents: \u201cThe school has a hot weather uniform adjustment which uses the existing school PE kit.<\/p>\n “This is currently working well during periods of extreme hot weather. The decision to adjust to wearing PE kit is made by the headteacher and does not involve any additional expense for parents and carers.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the UK Health Security Agency issued an amber alert for extreme heat which continues across the UK until Monday. Temperatures in Bristol reached 30 deg C on Thursday, and are expected to match that today (Friday).<\/p>\n In an email sent to parents on Thursday, after dozens of children were sent home for wearing PE kits, the school confirmed it was not relaxing its uniform policy. \u201cThere are no current plans to adjust uniform in light of the current summer weather,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are monitoring the weather regularly and will inform you of any reasonable adjustments to uniform if required.<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage all students not to wear jumpers or coats (some are still wearing them). All students should bring a refillable water bottle and should apply sunscreen. Students are also welcome to wear wide-brimmed hats at lunchtime and to make use of the shade,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n On Friday morning, another email announced ties were now optional, but the shirts and trousers uniform policy was continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cWith a continuation of the warm weather, we are suggesting students do not wear their tie on Friday, June 20,\u201d the email said. \u201cStudents should avoid wearing jumpers or coats (some are still wearing them). All students should bring a refillable water bottle and should apply sunscreen. Students are also welcome to wear wide brimmed hats at lunchtime and to make use of the shade.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease ensure your child attends school in the correct uniform as the school reserves the right to request them to correct this before entering the school site,\u201d the email added.<\/p>\n One parent said that many parents were confused about the trigger point for extreme hot weather. \u201cYou\u2019d think an amber alert from the UK health agency would be the sort of thing that would make the headteacher think about how hot the pupils would be,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol schools funding black hole almost \u00a350 million despite government bailout<\/a>READ MORE: Students protest Yate school’s ‘sexist and unnecessary’ uniform skirt policy<\/a><\/p>\n Another parent told Bristol Live the reason why many children keep their jumpers on even in the heat was to cover up the sweat patches that show through the pale blue shirts. \u201cMy daughter came home on Thursday and she was so upset, she was a mess,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been taking in spare shirts but she kept her jumper on all day yesterday. These are teenagers, they get sweaty and they also get embarrassed. Pale blue is maybe the worst colour to wear if you’re sweaty in hot weather.<\/p>\n “So this morning (Friday), I thought \u2018I\u2019ve had enough\u2019. There was an amber warning for the heat so I said she could wear her PE kit. I saw her off to school only to see her come back home because she\u2019d been turned away at the gate.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I got a message from the school saying they were marking it as an unauthorised absence because I hadn\u2019t contacted them to say why she was off.<\/p>\n “They had the gall to tell me I hadn\u2019t reported her absence when I dropped her off at the school gates ready to learn, and they had turned her away. It\u2019s so frustrating. It\u2019s an excellent school and my children love learning there, but this is awful, it\u2019s really bad,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Bristol Live contacted Bristol Free School, and a response is awaited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK Health Security Agency has issued an amber alert because of the heatBristol Free School, in Southmead(Image:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,10648,748,2266,393,4884,10963,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-200798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-live","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-southmead","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bristol-Free-School.jpg\")
Bristol Free School<\/p>\n