No more nighties at the school gate, says head teacher

A rise in the number of mums who take their children to school still dressed in their pyjamas has moved a head teacher to issue wardrobe rules to pupils' parents. Joe McGuinness, head of St Matthew's primary in East Belfast sent out a newsletter on the subject after regularly spotting upwards of 50 mums in their nightwear in the morning.

'Over recent months the number of adults leaving children at school and collecting children from school dressed in pyjamas has risen considerably,' he wrote. 'While it is not my position to insist on what people wear, or don’t, I feel that arriving at the school in pyjamas is disrespectful to the school and a bad example is set to children.'

Apparently the mums in PJs phenomenon is well documented in Belfast – the women who do it are known as 'pyjama mamas' or Millies.

In an interview with his local paper, Mr McGuiness said; ' People don’t go to see a solicitor, bank manager or doctor dressed in pyjamas, so why do they think it’s OK to drop their children off at school dressed like that? It’s about respect and setting children a bad example. There is an old word called slovenliness, which means messy and lazy. I think this can be applied to people who spend the day dressed in pyjamas.'

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