ANGRY parents are calling for John Hanson School to overturn a ruling banning pupils from wearing coats in the playground.

The school's headteacher, Steve Evatt, says all coats should be banished to lockers during the school day so that pupils can maintain a 'common identity'.

Despite protests from some pupils that October temperatures mean it's cold outside, Mr Evatt says he is keeping the weather under review and will decide when pupils can wear their coats.

"Our expectation is that coats will be put in lockers at the start of the day and remain there until 3.15pm," he said.

A group of parents, including the mother of year 10 pupil Louise Adam, has started a petition to protest about the no-coats ruling.

So far it has attracted 318 signatures from pupils and parents.

Mrs Adam says she was stunned to hear that her daughter was asked to remove the black coat she was wearing in the school courtyard during breaktime.

She said: "I went to see the headteacher to check the school policy and told him I couldn't believe that we were having this conversation.

"You wouldn't expect an adult to go out without a coat in this weather, yet it seems as though this rule won't be relaxed for the children until November or December when it's freezing cold."

Mr Evatt says that the school is very fortunate with its facilities because covered ways and the layout of the buildings give protection against the wind and rain.

"And during lunchtimes we make supervised indoor spaces available and can accommodate a significant proportion of the school population in this manner," he added.

But Mrs Adam believes this is an unsatisfactory alternative because there isn't enough room in the school's indoor lunchtime facilities to house all 973 pupils.

"When the children finish their lunch they are asked to leave the dining hall and then there is only the library and the ICT suite where places have to be pre-booked," she said.

In future, John Hanson School says it would like to offer special fleece jackets - like those already used in its PE lessons - to protect pupils from the cold.

But until then, Mr Evatt says that during the 'worst of the winter' he will personally inform students when the rule will be relaxed.