26/06/2026
A mother has claimed her son was suspended from school for wearing his PE kit during a record-breaking heatwave.
Andrea Dallen, 46, sent her 15-year-old son to The Heys School in Prestwich, Manchester, on June 24 dressed in his PE kit, which carries the school badge, in an effort to help him cope with the high temperatures.
By lunchtime, she reportedly received a phone call informing her that he had been given a one-and-a-half-day suspension for not changing into the standard school uniform.
Temperatures in Manchester reached around 31°C, with roughly 1,000 schools across England and Wales closing or adapting their rules due to the extreme heat. Government guidance has stated that schools may consider relaxing uniform requirements in hot weather, although final decisions are left to individual schools.
Andrea, who works as a social worker, criticised the decision, saying it was unreasonable to send her son home and disrupt his education when he was already wearing the school’s PE kit.
She added that other schools in the area had allowed students to attend in PE kit since the start of the week.
The school’s usual uniform consists of a black blazer, white shirt, and black trousers, while the PE kit is a lightweight black sports top with the school emblem, black shorts, and plain black trainers. Andrea said students had been allowed to remove blazers due to the heat, but still had to wear heavy trousers.
She questioned the policy, arguing that comfort in extreme temperatures would not affect learning and could even improve concentration.
According to her, other students also arrived in PE kit and were sent home, though not all received suspensions. She described her son as well-behaved, a regular attendee, and a top-set student, and said he was not being punished further at home. She also mentioned preparing ice cream at home to help him stay cool during his time off school.
The Heys School has been contacted for comment.
