Up to 150 girls have been sent home from a school for wearing skirts that were deemed “too short”, it has been reported.

The students were returning to Tring School in Hertfordshire for their first day back since the summer holidays.

ITV reports that girls whose skirts did not reach their knees were pulled aside by teachers and then placed in exclusion or picked up by parents.

The news has sparked backlash on social media, with one Twitter user asking: “Why can women still not wear what they want when they want?!”

Another called on the school to “free the knee.”

The mother of a 13-year-old girl whose skirt was deemed inappropriate told ITV: “I think the school have been very heavy-handed. My daughter was wearing the same skirt as she wore last year. I sent her to school believing she was in the correct uniform.

“I find it ridiculous that girls have been excluded from education today because of what they are wearing.”

In response, head teacher Sue Collings said that the school had previously warned pupils and parents that school uniform rules would have to be adhered to this September.