To wonder how a school can allow their girls to dress like this?

[Piggyleroux]

I only have 1 ds of 18 mo so am probably very out of touch but here goes.

I picked up dh from his weekend on call at queens hospital in Romford. On the way I was stuck in traffic outside a school and was frankly shocked by how short the girls skirts were. They were actually bum skimming. They also were all wearing over the knee black socks so a vast quantity of thigh was on show.

Am I just an old prude? I felt sad tbh that they felt they had to dress like this probably to fit in. Why doesn't the school impose a below the knee rule?

[gordyslovesheep]

age? I mean where they 4 or 14?

[Piggyleroux]

They looked from about 11 upward. Why does that matter? It really looked inappropriate.

[Bonsoir]

Short skirts and over the knee socks are the fashion. My DD (6) loves this look!

[Piggyleroux]

[squeakytoy]

I remember rolling my skirt up at the waistband when I was at high school...

Also, schools have a nightmare these days, trying to enforce any type of rules, because the kids "know their rights"...

[Bonsoir]

My DD went to school this morning in shorts, tights, knee high boots, a tunic and a waistcoat. She looked absolutely lovely, as she did all weekend when wearing short skirts and over the knee socks with said boots.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

YY, it looks horrible, without exception, and so tarty and scruffy.

I'm sure that's why our school had a uniform of pleated skirts for girls, all round pleats are very, very difficult to roll up to make a skirt short... you'd look like a michelin girl with a 'tyre' around your waist from the rolled up skirt.

[FourEyesGood]

Very few schools allow girls to wear short skirts. The girls turn up their waistbands to make the skirts shorter. I'm a teacher (off school sick today) and am forever telling girls to sort their skirts out. The rule at our place is that the skirt should "touch the knee" but girls (and their parents!) argue about what constitutes "the knee".

[mousesma]

The school probably does have a below the knee rule and the girls are practising the time honoured tradition of rolling the waistband up :)
Children always "customise" their uniform as much as they can get away with.
It is possible that in school they uphold the uniform policy but there is not much they can do when the girls leave the building.

[EricNorthmansMistress]

YANBU
It boggles my mind. I don't understand why the parents allow it either! Do parents really have so little control? I saw a group of girls at the station recently, one was wearing loose shorts so short that her bum cheeks were clearly visible. It made me very uncomfortable TBH.

[AKissIsNotAContract]

The nuns used to come round and measure our skirts with a ruler!

[Bonsoir]

LeQueen - you have identified the fundamental problem: most uniforms are deeply unflattering. Girls do whatever is within their powers to make them ever-so-slightly less dismal!

[LittleWaveyLines]

As a teacher, do you have any idea how often I say: "Pull your skirt down", "get a new skirt - it's too short", "Do your top button up", "Pull up your trousers" etc.

It gets very boring, parents argue that they can't afford other clothes, you are picking on their darlings, (shouldn't have bought those clothes in the first place), and eats up teaching time.

They just roll the skirts back up 2 mins later anyway....

[toadoftoadhall]

They probably rolled their skirts down again when they went into school. Its not the girls fault that school uniform has become so fetishised. It is just skirts and socks, not basques with nipple tassels

[MarshaBrady]

We had great rules wrt uniform. Blazer, navy ribbon only in hair, skirt not too short etc

I even find the big area of private schools near me quite untidy. Hair messy, designer bags. And where they go totally off-piste with mad alterations, different jumpers etc at other schools it looks so odd to me.

So engrained I am with what I grew up with.

[Bonsoir]

Then why bother, LittleWaveyLines? Personally, if I were a teacher in a school with a really dismal, unflattering uniform, I would be proud to see girls making an attempt to make themselves look a little less dreary. And would encourage them!

[Theas18]

Um I suspect neither the school or the parents "allow" this.

Currently having a "battle" with DD2 (OK not a battle 'cos I refuse to let it become one!) . She has a regulation school skirt from the suppliers- it IS knee length. She wears it with thick black opaque tights. She is now rolling it up at the wast and it is a couple of inches above- she tells me you can't walk in it long..... she isn't lolita esque but I'm sure it'll be rolled more at the bus stop....

I've said that she isn't wearing it as per policy and if she gets into trouble she will be wearing her trousers and the skirt will disappear. so we'll see!

[squeakytoy]

I think standard uniform for both sexes should be normal fitting black or grey trousers.

I would have loved to be able to wear trousers when I was at school but girls were not allowed to back then.

[itbird]

yabu - its Romford - what do you expect ? however whizz down the a12 to Brentwood and see the opposite, my dd has a wicked deputy head who makes them kneel down to make sure their hemlines touch the floor. It is an uphill battle for the teachers though as it is also the makeup, the nails, fake tan, hair, piercings, mobiles.

[Bonsoir]

I think it constitutes child cruelty to make them wear those ghastly unflattering uniforms!

[LittleWaveyLines]

Bonsoir - because them's the rules, and you have to learn to follow rules. Also I don't like being able to see the underwear of my pupils, or them able to see each others' underwear. It's tarty (both sexes). They are kids and underage!