That initial admission went better than Peter expected. No sneering, no snide comments… not yet anyway. He did wish his parents had told him before they moved away from Slough though… or did he? He wished they hadn’t kept if from him, which isn’t quite the same thing. It was the day after they’d moved into their new home when Peter’s parents sat him down to tell him. At first he thought they were winding him up, baiting him and waiting for him to believe them, then going ‘gotcha!’ before rolling out the anecdote on a regular basis for years to come. He’d checked the school’s shoddy old website and there was no mention of it being an EP school, so they must be jesting, he figured. It’s only when they showed him the school’s current prospectus did the penny drop. The cover photograph shows a busy school playground; some children stand and chat, some are playing, some are just passing by and some are sitting on benches. At first glance of the prospectus, one wouldn’t even realise that Butterworth High School is a coeducational establishment… it’s only when you flick through and look at the numerous pictures depicting everyday school life that you notice an awful lot of short ‘pixie’ haircuts. Only then do you realise that there’s a good number of boys in amongst all those girls… only they’re not dressed as boys. The uniform page is headed by the words ‘our unisex uniform policy’ and a brief explanation of the benefits of EP. Peter glumly pointed out that the uniform is far from ‘unisex’. “That’s just a girl’s uniform.” he whined.
There were no tears from Peter, but there was a lot of fear. They assured him that if they could have enrolled him into the Academy, they would have. He told them that they should have found another school, in nearby Rugby maybe, but they claimed that the next nearest school is far too far and reiterate the the local high school is a very good school. “Not if you’re a boy.” he barked. Having heard the commotion, his concerned sister Kate entered and asked what was going on. “Did you know?” Peter asked his sister. He hands her the prospectus, open at the uniform page and her jaw dropped.