Parents get a telling-off for wearing pyjamas on the school run

I have a confession to make. I once did the school run in my pyjamas. I had a jacket and joggers over them, but I knew they were there even if nobody else did. Did I feel ashamed? Not for a second. Because some mornings, things just don’t go to plan, and getting the kids into their school uniforms is more of a priority than changing into my finest daywear. 

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Fortunately, my children don’t go to Skerne Park Academy in Darlington, because if they did I may have found myself in the headteacher’s office for a dressing down. Or, rather, a dressing up — because Kate Chisholm is fed up with parents pitching up at the school gates in their jammies and has made sure they know all about it.

In a letter published on Metro.co.uk, Miss Chisholm highlighted the “increasing tendency for parents to escort children to and from school while still wearing their pyjamas and, on occasion, even slippers,” and asked all parents to “take the time to dress appropriately.”

“While this may seem to some to be a minor point, I am sure you will agree that it is important for us all to set our children a good example about what is appropriate and acceptable in all aspects of life, not only from the point of view of their safety and general well-being but also as preparation for their own adult life,” she wrote.

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Phil Naylor, a parent of Skerne Park Academy pupils, told Metro.co.uk, “We all support the school and I hope this helps get the message across to parents. It’s disgraceful, we should be guiding our children not giving them bad habits.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with having the occasional nothing-is-going-right morning and doing the school run with a bedhead and mismatched socks. Or, in my case, with pyjamas under my clothes. I’m fairly sure my kids’ safety and general well-being didn’t suffer too much from being exposed to that, and I don’t think it’s any business of the school what I choose to wear, at any time of the day.

However, in Miss Chisholm’s defence, it seems things at Skerne Park have reached a point where some parents are, quite frankly, taking the mickey — she claims they’re even turning up to school assemblies and meetings in their pjs and slippers.

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