These British schoolboys are literally skirting the rules.

On Wednesday, a group of male students at Isca Academy in Exeter, UK, weren’t allowed to wear shorts despite the heat wave sweeping Europe. So instead, they showed up to school in plaid skirts to protest the academy’s uniform policy.

“We’re not allowed to wear shorts, and I’m not sitting in trousers all day,” one of the teenage protesters told BBC. “It’s a bit hot.”

The academy’s uniform guidelines state that boys are only allowed to wear trousers, while female students can wear pants or tartan skirts. The protesting boys donned uniforms typically worn by the girls.

Although the school’s headteacher, Aimee Mitchell, suggested the protest to students as a way to change the rules, she told BBC, “Shorts are not currently part of our uniform for boys and I would not want to make any changes without consulting both students and their families.”

The male pupils’ show of defiance has gone viral on social media.

“Fair play to the lads!” one user wrote on Twitter. “Certainly getting the publicity they deserve to overturn an absurd uniform rule.”