At 8.30am today the temperature on Motueka's High St was zero degrees Celsius.

Standing close to a pile of leaves in the gutter that were white with frost, Motueka High School student Aimee Goodman, 16, explained why she was being an outlaw by wearing a puffer jacket.

"I wear it because I want to be warm. I think the ban is a bit silly because they don't look bad or anything."

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The issue has gained attention because year 11 student Jennifer Guthrie started a Facebook page and petition which 250 other students have so far signed. It calls on the school's board of trustees to allow students to wear puffer jackets as part of the school uniform.

The petition says : "As the weather gets colder more students are beginning to wear their puffer jackets to school, however, as they are not part of the school uniform, they are confiscated and the wearer can possibly receive a detention. We believe this is unfair.

Alastair Paulin Sixteen year old Motueka High School students Dylan Sixtus, left, Aimee Goodman and Amber Sixtus want the school board to reconsider its ban on puffer jackets.

"The current uniform options provided by the school are insufficient at providing warmth."

School principal Scott Haines said the school was not targeting puffer jackets.

"We don't have a policy on puffer jackets but we do have a uniform policy."

He said the school offered four options to keep warm, from a Canterbury style jacket that was "warm and waterproof" to a soft shell jacket, a polar fleece and a jersey.

He said the consultation done before the new school uniform options were introduced at the start of 2013 was the most extensive the school had ever done, and that just 12 per cent of the 856 surveyed indicated they wanted something apart from the four warm options. Among the "other"options, the most popular choice was a hoodie and the second was a black puffer jacket.

"A school uniform is a school uniform and it needs to be independent of fashion. In 2012, soft shell jackets were all the rage and in 2015 puffer jackets are where it's at. Should the board of trustees respond to that? What would happen in 2016 or 2017 when fashion changes again?"

Aimee said she also owned an official school uniform jacket but she preferred the puffer jacket, which she took off once she got to school. She estimated about 20 to 30 students wore puffer jackets on the way to school.

Another student, Breeze Savage, 16, was also wearing a puffer jacket this morning.

"The ban is bad because it's freezing. I'm wearing an official jersey but it doesn't really do anything."

Haines said Guthrie had raised the issue with the school's student council last year but that it did not gain majority support from the council to be taken to staff or the board.

He said he had gone through the petition and estimated 70 per cent of the signatories had no connection to Motueka High School.

The school's uniform policy is supposed to apply from the time students leave home to go to school but Haines said the school had no practical way to enfoce that. He said about half a dozen students a day were spoken to by a deputy principal for wearing non-standard uniform items, and the biggest issue was around shoes.

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