The Bishop of Birkenhead visited a Sandbach school to hear first-hand about a petition calling on the Government to make it illegal for school uniforms to be sold in sex shops and used as a costume in pornography.

Bishop Julie Conalty, who has signed the petition, says she was inspired to act after seeing a video by the students in which they talk about their experiences and why they felt the need to create the petition.

The Bishop met with Year 11 GCSE and the feminism club at Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College in Middlewich Road yesterday (Monday).

The petition calls on the government to make it illegal for school uniforms to be displayed and sold within sex shops to stop the sexualisation of children.

It states: "We also think it is vital for pornography to ban displaying videos where school uniforms are worn as a costume."

Bishop Julie Conalty, a deputy lead bishop for safeguarding in the Church of England with a particular focus on survivor engagement, said she wanted to find out more about the petition and how the church could help.

She said hearing stories about how girls in their uniform walking to school were sometimes faced with cars honking their horns or people shouting out of their cars made them feel unsafe.

"We must do more as a society to put a stop to the pernicious and damaging sexualisation of children."

Religious studies teacher Sarah Maile, who is also the PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic) co-ordinator at the school said: "What an incredibly wonderful woman.

Teacher, Sarah Maile

"We can't thank Bishop Julie Conalty enough for sharing her story and supporting us."

The petition, launched earlier this year, has nearly 16,000 signatures. The link to sign it is here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/615829