to wonder if secondaries are really this bad?

Blazers are a load of tosh as well. It does nothing to help prepare kids for ‘business dress’ as most of the students will then go to university to dress like slobs for 3-4 years and people are much more casual in the workplace.

Business attire is absolute bollocks. I know a guy who works with senior members of the government and I have never ever seen him wear a tie. He has a suit that I’ve seen him in once. (He had a meeting with the PM. that day.) On the other hand he has a first-class degree from one of the Oxbridge universities and a distinction in his masters from another very well-respected institution, and that’s why he’s got the job that he’s got. Schools seem to have lost sight of their purpose.

Unisex toilets have been quietly changed back to boys and girls separately at dc school. The loos were awful as unisex, nowhere private re periods, girls and boys hated it.

Also no mobiles at school, or the insane one where not allowed home or contact home if poorly.
Pointed out that unless the tyrant deciding if dc were lying or not was a qualified doctor perhaps they should err on the side of caution when ignoring lower stomach pains in case its appendicitis. Still annoyed now.

We weren’t allowed to take blazers off without permission and had to use a one way system around school in the 90s. We also had to stand up whenever an adult came into your classroom, whether it was your teacher or someone coming into your lesson and could only sit when told to. We had to be able to climb onto a chair to prove our skirt wasn’t too tight!

This doesn’t feel shocking to me. I had a teacher who had a rule that “the only thing you can do in my classroom without permission is breathe”. My kids think their school is easier than mine was.

My son’s school (only 6 years ago) was like this. Blazers on in the middle of a heatwave and when he asked for permission to take his off the teacher refused, saying that nobody else was too hot! I loathe this sort of power trippy approach.

There was definitely a smoking area in my school in the '70s...completely unofficial, but the staff knew it was there. They turned a blind eye if they walked past.

Peeps @Chichimcgee 's post about smoking areas was a joke. And when the OP mentioned having to walk a certain way in corridors she meant things like in silence, single file, not just a one way system.

I completely agree. It all seems an arbitrary nonsense that we are obsessed with.

Anyone who thinks these rules are harsh or unnecessary clearly doesn’t have a clue how awful behaviour is these days!
I left a school this year where students and staff were pushed in corridors and on stairs leading to some serious injuries. The same students spent most of each lesson in the toilets (usually vaping) The same students would also run around the school site disrupting other classes etc. This school is now in special measures and is probably quite extreme, however, the school I worked in before that was only slightly better in terms of behaviour!
The blazer thing is a control thing, ask any teacher how much worse behaviour is on non uniform days!

I'm 45 and this is what my school did. There were other things too, stand up if a senior teacher entered the room. Coats or hairbands of the wrong colour confiscated for a term

Not like this at private schools, plenty of rules and punishment when they are broken... but smaller schools probably have less issues.

My DDs school has this and it works well as it's also an open entrance so the boys can't go near the doorsnwothout being seen. Much better than the toilets we had as teenagers where it was a no go zone unless you wanted to get battered. I never water drank at school!

Yes this was a thing when I was at school in the ‘90s.

Name the school or else I call absolutely bollocks.

Went to strict uniform school.
Violations got demerits & detention.

Student would have to be a complete idiot to not be able to comply. And the non-compliers usually kids who ended up with bigger behavior problems.

Seemed to me … being unable to wear same thing every day was a good indicator of future poor school performance.

Untucked shirts, Weird short fat ties, wrong color sock/shoes - you had to TRY, make an effort and work at being that F-up student.

We had this at my school too! (Many years ago). Aswell as having to ask to take blazer off

i'm 40 and apart from toilet thing we had same rules when we were at school. couldn't ever take blazer off especially walking home. walking round school was single file to the the left in silence

I really can't see the problem with any of these rules they sound like common sense rules to me.
I left school 45 years ago and it was exactly like this. The school is consistently one of the top 10 state schools in the UK.
They must be doing something right..

This is absolutely awful - how is she expected to learn and be worried, hungry and dehydrated too?!
Please stand up for your children everyone, don't let them get away with this!

I really thought I’d come to this post and see ‘Look how bad secondary schools are…low levels of staffing, difficulties in retaining staff, low expectations of pupil achievement, lack of resources, crumbling buildings, lack of appropriate professional
input for SEND etc etc’. Yes there are schools including our own local one that is in special measures for the third year and the misguided leadership are trying to regain some control by enforcing these rules. Ofsted keep saying how terrible the place is but I can’t see much input in helping to improve it. Failing so many young people!

One way systems were in place in my secondary in the 90’s. 3 floors on one block - every other floor went different way. Pita when your next lesson was next door but the wrong way, but we survived.

Yes to points one and three at my DC schools

I think the floor to ceiling dividers are a red herring for safety.

The changing rooms at my swimming pool 30 years ago were mixed sex and there were lots of peep holes drilled into the dividing walls. Us girls would plug them with tissue paper to get changed.
When I was a little older (19?) I went into one of the family cubicles with my then foster sister who was a young girl to help her change and I saw the tissue in one of the holes slowly being pulled out.
I was already dressed tso I put my towel in the way, got my foster sister quickly dried and quietly left and alerted the staff. As we left they were waiting outside the changing room door. We waited and watched and saw them escorting a middle aged creepy looking man out of the leisure centre.

I'll never forget it.

Mixed sex - no thanks.

The pervs always find a way.

Obsession with uniform too, and detentions given for minor 'transgressions' like not tucking in shirt or tie slightly too loose. All of which takes up more time and attention from teaching or enforcing against more serious misdemeanours. I think its a v British phenomenon too - from what I've seen on continent there's much more relaxed attitude towards school dress. But, seems like lots of parents love the idea of the strict school with harsh uniform policy - though seems pretty superficial to me.

Insane.