AS TEMPERATURES plummeted overnight on Sunday one Swindon schoolgirl who was feeling the chill decided to layer up over her uniform black tights in a bid to keep her feet warm.

But the Year 11 Nova Hreod pupil got more than she bargained for when she donned brightly-coloured odd socks for the start of the school week on Monday.

The non-matching pair of star-spangled socks worn by Abigail Francis saw her being put in isolation and then sent home.

The previous day the family had just moved house and come Monday morning Abigail said the only socks she could find amongst the chaos of the moving boxes were the ones she wore to school over her tights – a red one with white stars and a black one with white spots.

The 16-year-old – who will be taking her GCSEs in the summer – said she had only worn the thick socks because she was cold, after the first real frost of the winter on Monday morning.

She said: “I got into roll call and I was picked out and told they didn’t like my socks, and they asked if I would take them off.

"I explained my feet were cold and that I couldn’t find any others. I was really annoyed, it’s just socks.”

Abigail was put into isolation and when mum Sarah rang the school to update their records with their new address details she was put through to speak to her daughter.

Sarah said: “I was put on to Abigail because they wanted me to tell her to take her socks off so she could go back to lessons.

"The member of staff got annoyed with the way Abigail was talking to me on the phone so said they were excluding her. My husband had to go and collect her.

“Abigail said she was a bit upset and her feet were cold, but they wanted her to take them off. They were the only ones she could find and I told them she would have the right pair the next day.

“They don’t learn with their feet, they learn with their heads, their feet are under the desk and it makes no difference what socks they are wearing.”

Abigail was also facing an after school detention on Tuesday afternoon, meaning that she would miss out on her weekly childcare lessons at Swindon College.

But according to the Nova Hreod uniform policy, girls are not allowed to wear socks at all over their tights – no matter what the colour.

The school’s uniform policy states: “Socks can be plain black or charcoal grey. Girls are allowed to wear black tights, but not knee high socks. Socks are not permitted to be worn over the top of tights.”

A spokesperson for the academy said: “Our school, which has been working so successfully to improve our academic standards, has a strict uniform policy which the overwhelming majority of students and parents are happy to comply with.

“We apply the same high expectations to all students, which means everyone is treated fairly and in the same way.”