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School Uniforms Have Become Too Sexy - Is It Time To Say Stop?

72 replies

CRAWT · 15/07/2013 14:22

Seeing as the schools are finished or are finishing up I thought I'd throw this one out to everyone here. I know it's commented on before, but I thnk it's getting worse over the last while. DD1 had just finished school and DD2 has two years left and all I can say is I'm glad the DD1 has finished and can't wait till DD2 has done the same. Simply because over the last few years the uniform at their school has become what can only be described as a perverts dream. Lets start with the belts, because to call them skirts would be a lie under the trade descriptions act. Because they are nothing of the sort. They are either floaty pleated things or the bodycon style type. And are ass level of course being so micro short, with only a few exceptions. Not rolled or cut, but bought that way. So no hope of any teacher ever correcting that in class. Because they go into class like that. Then it's either tights or socks. Tights vary from the thin sheer black type to various patterned styles, with some girls towards the end of the school year turning up in those horrendous mock suspender tights. The epitome of tartyness and totally outrageous for school. Socks are black, always worn long. Knee high and over knee. The over knee type with coloured ribbons on them. Footwear is usually standard, but heels have been known to be worn too. Not kitten heels either, but stiletto. Health and safety surely must be compromised with those. Shirts are too tight with buttons open, ties hang loose and not done up either. Blazers if buttoned hide the skirt giving a view that would suggest no skirt is being worn, the same with the school jumper. Down over the skirt, whether it's deliberate or not, is the worst possible look when they have the knee socks on. Coupled with full makeup, hairs all done up, fake tan, etc, it's just gone beyond what is appropriate for school, in my opinion. I'm not a killjoy, but the sight of these girls going to and from school and hanging around town during lunch or after school dressed like that attracting attention form the older male is a poor reflection of the school. One local school has skirts well below the knee, but the girls in it are considered 'square' by the girls in our school. I mentioned in at the last parents evening, 'we know about it' was the response. I'm sure they are as they see it every day. But so far have done nothing to fix it. DD1 was no worse than any of the other girls, but she was never going to listen to what I had to say as her peers decided that for her. And the school allowed it. Same goes for DD2. Especially as it's a co-ed school I would have thought they'd have nipped this in the bud. I do feel this a recent trend, when I was at school not one part of it would have been tolerated. Now it's the norm, I shudder to think where we'll be in 5 years time. I think it's time to say enough is enough and sort this out once and for all. Anyone else feel the same way?

OP posts:
5madthings · 15/07/2013 14:26
Hmm
Switchedtoeatingbutter · 15/07/2013 14:27

What would you suggest as a solution? Wear non uniform? That's just another set of problems marking out haves and have nots.

DameDeepRedBetty · 15/07/2013 14:27

The thing is, YOUR dds school uniform code is either too lax or being abused, certainly re the high heeled shoes. Not everyone's school as you say yourself permits this. So your problem is with school management, not with uniform per se.

RedHelenB · 15/07/2013 14:28

Polo shirts & trousers - it's funny but it is the strict blazer & tie wearing schools that always look the tartiest!!

SunnyRandall · 15/07/2013 14:28

None of the girls I see around here look like that. Short skirts, yes, but so were mine and I left school in 1995.

And I see three different sets of secondary age school girls every morning.

Not saying your experience isn't true, but it isn't like it everywhere.

SunnyRandall · 15/07/2013 14:29

From three different secondary schools i mean.

happyyonisleepyyoni · 15/07/2013 14:30

Why don't you contact the school head and governing body if you feel so strongly.

The girls at our school don't dress as you describe, as it is against school rules.

PatriciaHolm · 15/07/2013 14:32

How odd. None of the girls around here, from the mixed or single sex secondaries, look remotely like that.

KansasCityOctopus · 15/07/2013 14:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HoldingHigh · 15/07/2013 14:35

Can't say I've noticed much difference in the school uniforms here compared to when I was in school. We were allowed to wear short skirts and to be honest there were a few girls who often hitched them up shorter. But we were equally allowed to wear trousers if we wanted to. The only no go was trainers. You had to wear school shoes unless there were medical issues.

On a separate note to secondary schooling though. Back when I was at primary we only had one school uniform. Now they've allowed for the regular uniform and a summer time dress (school coloured) for the summer terms.

mynameisslimshady · 15/07/2013 14:36

Don't let your dd wear those things then but don't try and dictate what everyone else wears.

So what if some teenagers want to experiment with various looks, thats what they do, the worst that will happen is that they will look back at their school pictures and cringe.

PatsyAndEddy · 15/07/2013 14:36

It's your perception that's worrying, it's you attaching sexual terms to what girls are wearing.

YABVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVU

belatedmaybe · 15/07/2013 14:37

Do your dds attend St Trinians by any chance? Certainly doesn't sound like any school in my town!

monicalewinski · 15/07/2013 14:37

It's all down to the individual school being strict with their uniform policy; the school my eldest is starting after summer is zero tolerance on uniform transgressions (normal comprehensive in normal area) and the pupils all look smart.

FriskyHenderson · 15/07/2013 14:37

There's a school here that only allows strongly suggestions you buy skirts from the uniform shop. Theyhave a bright yellow lining/waistband so that they cannot be rolled up to make the skirt shorter.

And the head regularly stands on the gate and turns kids away that aren't in the correct uniform worn in the correct way - there's a special number of stripes to be visible on the front of the tie as well.

Works, at least while they are in school Wink

Snorbs · 15/07/2013 14:37

Sounds like an issue with your local school.

The secondary school my DD will be going to in September has very clear instructions about uniform particularly about length and style of skirts and they work very hard to enforce it. There are also strict rules about make up (none), footwear (plain, minimal heel), hair colour (natural colours only) and so on and so forth. As far as I can tell most of the other local secondary schools do the same.

DameDeepRedBetty · 15/07/2013 14:38

Is there actually a school uniform list or code OP? Our lot have an official blazer, jersey and tie, purchaseable only through school, and additionally virtually all the PE Kit is official school supplier only. Shirts, skirts and trousers may come from anywhere you like, but there's a minimum and maximum length, and stretch material is banned. Lurid socks are also banned. The head and his deputies are pretty hot on infractions, day 1 is stern letter home with warning that next day will be detention unless parent can show it would be impossible to replace with suitable stuff until the weekend. I don't know anyone who's gone past this point!

CockyFox · 15/07/2013 14:39

I live by one of the roughest schools in our area, it has a special class for pregnant teenagers. The girls however do not look as you describe;their skirts are all below the knee A line ones, blazers are smart shirt buttons done up and ties worn. The inky oddthing about then is their refusal to wear coats even in the depths of winter.

CRAWT · 15/07/2013 14:40

I did read other threads here and thought it was more common. I must have been mistaken.

OP posts:
valiumredhead · 15/07/2013 14:41

Contact your school to discuss the issue.

BehindLockNumberNine · 15/07/2013 14:44

Time for you to contact the head of your dd's school!! Shock

I live local to two large comprehensives. (one of which is ds's school)

I have never, ever, seen any uniform as per your description. Both schools are very strict and will send pupils home or place them in internal isolation is uniform is wilfully not as per regulations.
At ds's school the skirt can only come from one supplier and sports a different-coloured internal lining so it is easy to see if a girl has rolled them up to create a belt.

I don't think the problem is all school uniform, I think the problem is with the management of your school...

Rufus43 · 15/07/2013 14:45

Socks! You have a problem with their socks? Only joking, I'm with you about the rest. My children's school is cracking down, they measure the girls skirts.....then the girls roll them up! I was at a school the other day where one girl was not in uniform and they said they were just pleased she had turned up!

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DeWe · 15/07/2013 15:25

I went to a school 11-16 that was quite strict on length of skirt. If your skirt was above your knees, then you were likely to be sent to the head of year who gave you a skirt affectionately known as the "lampshade". Very wide, so you had to pull it in, so it stuck out like a lamp shade, and very long. Generally a new skirt was bought within a week.

I went to a school with a 6th form for the 6th form. I remember one girl being terribly indignant because one of the teachers had told her that her skirt was too short-because he could see her suspenders when she stood up. But lots of them were pretty much as short. Shortly after I left the head issued an official length: all girls's skirts had to be 24" or longer. That's mid calf on me now-not sure what I'd have done in the first year. Grin
But nothing was ever enforced, so they kept with their belts...

Locally one of the comps has very strict uniform. Boys can be sent home for having the wrong number of pleats in the trousers. Girls have to wear bright blue socks (at £14 a pair from the uniform suppliers Shock) and again will be sent home if they don't have exactly the right colour.
But two things puzzle me:
Firstly they have long hair loose. Now when I was growing up even the grottiest school, and the school that didn't have uniform, they had to have their hair up, and was unusual not to. Surely that's an obvious one if you're strict on uniform. Why don't they bother nowadays on that?
Secondly the skirts are, as you describe, belts. Why they worry about the number of pleats on trousers, but have no regulations on skirt length is beyond me. A just above the knee skirt looks terribly long.

50shadesofvomit · 15/07/2013 16:01

There areschools like the one you describe but my local outstanding secondaries aren't like that. The problem is that your school is getting lax not that it's a general trend.

Our school forces kids in the wrong uniform to go home and change or wear spare uniform/sports kit. The spares are apparently very musty and often the wrong size so a suitable punishment for image conscious teens.

BehindLockNumberNine · 15/07/2013 16:12

Shock Shock Shock

Today of all days, after I posted below, I happen to catch ds return home from school.
Instead of his regulation black school trousers he is wearing non-regulation black skinny jeans Shock

He cheerfully admits that he fancied seeing if he could get away with it so popped on his jeans and told his (lovely and firm but fair) form tutor that he had spilled water on his trousers this morning and was soaked and could not wear his school trousers. (omitting the fact he has another pair hanging in the wardrobe)

So, form tutor gives him a uniform pass, ticks the box that said 'note from home' (there was no note from home, I had no idea about this, having left for work before ds leaves the house but according to ds sir ticked it to avoid ds getting a detention!!!) and ds happily wears his skinnies all day. I seriously doubt the form tutor believed ds's story, the chap is ex-army and was not born yesterday, more likely he let ds get away with it as ds normally toes the line and is on the whole a good lad.... But still Shock

Gah!!

Ds has just said Sir did believe him because it was the first time and he does not normally pull stunts like this....

Either way, ignore all I said earlier about school being strict and on the ball, I obviously don't have a clue...

Arf Blush

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