Girls have been barred from wearing skirts at a secondary school after concern about rising hemlines.

Female pupils at Bingley Grammar School have now been ordered to wear plain, black trousers to school.

Only sixth form girls are exempt but the newly-drafted uniform policy will not tolerate inappropriate garments.

The school is thought to be the first secondary in the Bradford district to ban skirts.

John Kane, the school’s assistant head teacher, said the decision had been taken after more than 12 months of consultation with parents and pupils.

He said: “Girls were in competition with each other rolling them up. It is a natural part of growing up.

“There were some complaints from the community and parents were asking for this to be changed because they felt their daughters were increasingly vulnerable.

“A lot of parents brought it to our attention and I think it takes away that peer pressure.”

He said pupils sitting on the school council were asked to draft a revised uniform policy to be passed by the board of governors.

Mr Kane said pupils had co-operated fully.

“We haven’t received any complaints about it at all. We expected a few students to turn up in skirts but the opposite has happened.

“I think it seems quite common policy at lots of schools in other areas. It’s not a big issue for us.”

He said there were practical reasons for the change also.

“It’s really to do with the changing role that schools have and the fact that lessons aren’t about sitting down and copying from a board. Children do more kinetic activities like drama lessons.” Bingley ward councillor John Pennington said: “Provided the parents, the children and the school staff are in agreement, that’s the way forward, but I must say our youngsters do seem to want to express themselves more outrageously these days.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said the local authority did not intervene in school uniform policies except for in extreme circumstances and that schools are free to set their own policies as they see fit.