AIBU to think it isn't fair for school to ban skirts and dresses

This!
Contrary to belief, in non school uniform schools all the girls are in jeans and sweats.

As long as the shirts, trousers and shorts that the girls wear are designed for girls or female teenage bodies I think this is great.

So the same uniform but different cuts to fit the different body shapes.

What about skorts?

The length of skirts worn by high school girls really needs addressing. I saw one girl in the street last week in contortions, trying to bend down without showing everything to pick up something that had fallen out
of her bag. The justification for uncomfortable blazers and ties is that it’s preparing kids for ‘the world of work’ but there’s no way most workplaces would employ people who dress like they’re on a night out. I have sons so I’m sure I don’t get it but I’m amazed parents let their daughters go to school like that - it’s not just them rolling their skirts up on the way to school as every girl being dropped off by parents has an ultra miniskirt on too…

If you showed this thread to the teachers / parents / students at state schools across (eg ) Europe they’d be incredulous.
Really don’t understand why we British are so hung up on pupils / students wearing school uniform .
If a primary reason is to reduce bullying a good question to ask might be what we are getting so wrong with our culture that we believe kids will be bullied if they wear normal clothes . Why isn’t that a problem for French , Belgian , Dutch or German people ?

Also the bullying from not wearing the stupid bows and designer labels at over £100 for a short wear. True and so sad.

Well this will get rid of the rolled up skirts and displaying their arses tbf.

It's come to the point where unfortunately some girls do this and it really isn't appropriate, especially for teachers walking upstairs behind them and have to reprimand.

As with anything, it's the minority who abuse the rules, as in the whole of society, so drastic measures have to be put in place.

Sad I know 😞

I have done a double take at the skirt length of some secondary school pupils (showing my middle age, it was primary/secondary in my time).

We were practically in hessian sacks at that age!

I do think it makes sense to homogenise uniform but teens are always pushing barriers, it's part of growing up.

That’s a shame. But it’s also an argument to get rid of uniform - then your DD wouldn’t have had to suffer a single day in clothing that caused her problems. An absolute waste of time and energy.

No one’s saying it does. Though that claim is often made about uniform.

What’s being said is that not having uniform isn’t the disaster so many Brits think it is. Most of Europe manages well without uniform, indeed often better than we do.

And not having uniform stops all the nonsense that’s happening in this thread. It stops teachers having to waste time policing uniform.

I didn't say having a uniform does but I don't believe that having no uniform magically stops peer pressure and bullying.

I just think secondary uniform needs to be more inclusive with a variety of options to accommodate a wide range of people. Primary schools seem to be so much better at this, and certainly the one I work at isn’t strict on what must be worn. I’ve had to fight for reasonable adjustments to my daughter’s uniform to allow her to be able to attend and focus on her work as she would like. As she’s very academically minded and was progressing well, we weren’t taken seriously for a long time.

Why? Have you experienced a non-uniform school?

Kids who want to be nasty about possessions and appearance will be whether there’s uniform or not. The wrong bag, the wrong coat, the wrong hair style, the wrong glasses, the wrong shoes.

Uniform doesn’t stamp any of that out.

DD was at a non-uniform primary. Zero issues around clothes. Some kids were more into their fashion come year 6 but as DD and her friends could see for themselves, being into fashion didn’t have to make you judgey and unpleasant. The type of kid who’s like that will be judgey and unpleasant about anything they can be, and I certainly had plenty of unpleasant comments made about my hair, my bag, my glasses etc in a uniform school.

My school is going over to this, thank god. I am so sick of seeing girls in tiny skirts so short you can literally see their gussets. I am constantly asking them to pull their skirts down. Some girls feel pressured to wear them short but wear short stule pants underneath and you see them hooking their skirts fown all the time. I'm all for wearing a better, comfier uniform that is less stressful for all. I know skirts have always been hiked up, but i've been teaching over 20 years and these are belts, not skirts.

Left to me it'd be jogging bums and a polo shirt.

That’s good

I’m sure it depends on the school and it being an international one probably had a bearing on this

We had no issues in the UK. DS couldn’t care less what he wore. DD rotated through her favourite jeans with hoodies which she got mainly from holiday locations.

They haven’t but realistically I expect this could be an issue in the UK

How many non uniform schools have your DC’s attended?

Especially with designer labels and judgey kids and uniform stops this

DT’s were at a uk based international school with no school uniform from the ages of 4-18, their cousins attended non uniform schools in France, Belgium, US and Canada and I’m not aware of any cases of bullying over what you were wearing. It’s a non issue. No one is interested in jeans and a hoodie.

In non uniform schools there is no bullying or peer pressure about what you are wearing

I very much doubt that's true.

Absolutely.
I was gutted when we moved and the only choice was schools with uniforms and my girls were bullied into wearing skirts, despite both hating them. Tights had to be the right denier, too thick or too wooly would have the popular girls sniggering. The cost of bloody tights did my head in. DD one only had to look at a pair and they'd almost instantly be laddered.
I'm not sure it's been mentioned, but at least the trousers are black. Some school, somewhere is going to end up insisting on grey trousers, which would make managing periods harder for young girls.

I wasn't convinced a few years ago but now I think it would be great for my youngest and I would save quite a bit of money and time not having to visit the uniform shop that never seems to be open when it says it's going to be. We've had to have the kilt adapted as DD is very thin so waist size is ok but way too short, so that's one skirt for the total of £70 after adaptations. All the P.E. uniform on top of that, school sweater which they appear to change every year. That said as they have an allowance time to purchase the new style jumper, people don't bother so you have different years wearing different uniforms anyway!