TOO short or not too short – that is the question. From Doctor Who’s new assistant causing furore by wearing a particularly tiny version, to a school in Yorkshire which banned them altogether, skirts have been hitting the headlines.

The debate is not a new one. Since the 1960s and the advent of the mini-skirt this humble item of clothing has had the power to provoke consternation.

This week St Aidan’s Church of England School in Harrogate, Yorkshire, was the source of the row.

It made national news after head teacher Dennis Richards told parents that all girls under 15 must wear trousers to school from September, to prevent them “placing themselves at risk” by wearing short skirts.

In statement on the school’s website he said very young children were “wholly unaware of the signals they are giving out”.

And parents had been “astonished to see the difference between the length their daughter may wear her skirt as she leaves home and what has happened by the time she is walking the corridors of the school”.

Certainly the problem of girls rolling up their skirts at the waistband is hard for teachers to police – particularly outside the school gates. Most former schoolgirls will remember doing just that – despite the ungainly bulge of fabric it creates around the waist.

Anne Shinwell, head teacher at Parkstone Grammar School, said it was an issue at any school with girls, and making sure the pupils had appropriate length of skirt – deemed as no more than 5cm above the knee in her school’s uniform code – could be “a bit of a challenge”.

“In any school where you’ve got girls there’s going to be the challenge to help them understand that school is a place of work – not a night-club, not a party – therefore the skirt length has to be appropriate.”

She added: “It’s interesting to see how another school deals with it. It makes skirts something to aspire to in year 11 as opposed to trousers as it was years ago. It’s interesting how the world turns around.”

While no school locally has taken the decision to ban skirts as part of school uniform, one Poole school came close.

Back in 2005 Broadstone Middle School also found itself splashed across the pages of the national newspapers for trying to ban skirts.

Then head teacher Marilyn Warden said the move was “in order to give girls the same opportunities as boys for a safe, active and healthy lifestyle, whilst maintaining their modesty” and that trousers were “a practical and appropriate dress requirement”.

But after a strong reaction from some parents the school held a consultation – and reversed the decision.

It’s uniform policy now states that skirts can be worn – but must be mid-grey, pleated from the waist, sit on the waist not hips and be worn “on or just below the knee”.

Yesterday the school said it had “no uniform issues”.

Stuart Twiss, head of children and young people’s strategy, quality and improvement at the Borough of Poole, said: “Each school is responsible for their own uniform policy and changes are made by the governing body following consultation with parents.”