Shocked regarding standards of attire

cory- I drive past a University several times a week. The students dress nothing like the schoolkids. No bare thighs, midrifs or lower backs. Subtle, neutral makeup if at all. No extreme hair cuts/colours. Also they are adults.

There is a big difference between an adult dressing up to go on a night out and an 11 year old dressing provocatively to go to school.

usual- I'd happily let my DD wear makeup to a party or special occasion from 12/13 but not heavy or very colourful versions at school.
There's also nothing wrong with a bit of subtle hair dye at an apropriate age. But I dont think green/purple/extensions are suitable for school. My school would have expelled a pupil for that.

"I feel so strongly that I dont want my DCs to be exposed to that I'll homeschool if I cant get them into private by then."

So what if they don't want to be homeschooled? And how are you going to cope when they go to university? Undergraduates don't tend to wear neat uniforms, you know.
Wouldn't it be better to bring your own children up to be sensible than to try to keep them away from the whole rest of the world?

foreverastudent ...what are you going to do when your teenage dd wants to wear make up? or dye her hair? because she will

Society has changed. Children, teenagers and their parents have a strong feeling that they have rights to do as they want, as long as no one else is being hurt. It can be exhausting and often futile to try to stamp out short skirts and make-up.

ha ha, I check my son's bum before he leaves the house. But he's so skinny that if he lets his waistband drop his jeans actually fall off, so it isn't a problem :)

I really don;t see girls looking all that tarty at the kids' school, so maybe it isn't whether or not uniform is worn, but how the dress code is policed.

No uniform?
I'd have to fight the urge to bounce all those little boys with their bums hanging out back into their trousers.
My son's secondary has just petitioned parents about making trousers the rule for all, to avoid the belt skirt look. They've tried policing skirt length for a few years now, but it's not working out.

I wouldn't send my DCs to my local state secondary and a major reason for that is the way the pupils, especially the girls, dress.

I also only left school 13 years ago. We weren't allowed to wear makeup until year 10. Had to wear a blazer at all times. No jewellery except watch, not even sleepers.
No scarves other than the regulation school one. Black tights or grey knee-high socks, no ankle socks or colour. The one style of school skirt had to be just below knee-length. They even brought in a rule that jumpers couldn't hang below the blazer!

So with this as my baseline I am at how the local schoolgirls look. They look like they are heading to an audition for a pop video or a lapdancing job. Thick makeup, visable body piercings, multi-coloured hair extensions, micro-skirts, skyscraper-heels, no jacket/coat in winter. it's disturbing how sexualised they look. I dont understand the mentality of the parents who let their 11, 12 and 13 year olds leave the house like that- it's not in a deprived area.

I feel so strongly that I dont want my DCs to be exposed to that I'll homeschool if I cant get them into private by then.

My kids go to a school without uniform, although there is a dress code (clean, comfortable, covered) which allows the school to police standards of dress along sensible lines according to health and safety/decency. They all seem to wear hoodies and skinny jeans and tees and trainers, and it isn't an issue.
It's a comp but does well in league tables.

The school I worked at last had what you would probably consider to be a poorer level of uniform. The kids' clothes were very personalised, and the fashion was for the boys to dye their hair bright colours.

At my current school they're very strict about uniform.

The former school was very academic, with a warm, inclusive atmosphere. My current school is very academic too but doesn't have such a warm ethos, and the behaviour is much worse.

I think it can be an indicator but I don't think it necessarily is.

I personally think there are some kids who don't look right with their shirts tucked in, buttoned up to the neck with a standard hairstyle. It just doesn't fit their personality.

Besides, at some schools they have much more important things to worry about and I'm not going to judge them for that.

Well, there is a school near to us that has no uniform and they all dress like drug dealers without the dog. A lot of the parents locally can't afford the obligatory nike (only certain brands of sportswear seem acceptable) so it seems that the majority of people just go to other schools. I think that school uniform is cheaper and the high school that my daughter will go to has a lovely smart uniform.

The schools with uniforms do seem to have higher results, but that doesn't necessarily have to be because of the uniforms.

Ds1's (state) school has quite strict uniform rules and enforces them, giving out 'uniform detentions' if the rules aren't adhered to. Their philosophy is that a child that looks like a scruff, behaves like a scruff. Or something like that anyway.

However, 'tis nothing compared to the rules concerning uniform at my old school - things like all skirt hems had to touch the floor when kneeling for Prayers, no over-the-knee socks allowed (remember those?) and if the games mistress spotted them when you were in Assembly (quite obviously peeking up cross-legged girls' skirts) you had to stand up and roll them down to below knee level. No jewellery or make up ever, no eating in the street in uniform- the list was quite extensive!

DD (yr 9)was told the other day to roll down her skirt- it wasn't rolled up at all, just she has 33 inch inside leg and the school skirts do not come in different lengths!
I rolled my skirt up way back in the early 70s and I consider myself to have been a "good" girl. It's what we all did.

Two of the schools I am looking at have a very lax uniform. The first one we have seen and already discounted. We see the next one tonight.

I have to say that I am influenced by the uniform. I have a dd, and I do not want her to go to school in tight leggings, a belt skirt and purple DM's with a school polo slung on the top. I know that I am probably BU, but I cannot help it! I think I would prefer no uniform at all.

My dd's secondary has no tie, a sweater instead of blazer- and the best behaviour in town. On the other hand, our catchment school which insists on white shirt, blazer and tie has severe discipline problems and chaotic lessons and awful GCSE results. And we do not live in a deprived area, it's just poor management from what I can see. So im-limited-e it is perfectly possible to be organised about uniform and still leave absolutely everything else in a mess. In fact, I would say that around here, you can gauge the standards of a school by the laxity of the uniform: the smarter they are, the more trouble there is.

My DS' school appears to be quite strict...must wear blazers, ties , shirts tucked in, top button done up, no jewellery, no unorthodox hairstyles or make up.

It is a bog standard large comprehensive. I love the fact that they enforce these standards as it leaves no room for interpretation or argument. Yet....the pupils still adapt their dress subtlety.

I wear a uniform to work and even as adults we try to customise our uniform. There is an innate desire to be an individual.

I really can't remember what the study said, or how they did it. It was about 4 years ago, I heard about it from my headteacher at the time.

For goodness sake,how can the colour of a uniform make a difference..straw boater anyone?

They do say that bronze.

Look on the Government Standards Site - I think it has some links. From what I remember, they said that uniform colour also affects behaviour, I think red was not a good choice but cannot remember anything else.

Where I work now uniform is enforced with iron discipline.

my son was always very smart at his shite comp. (which he is now doing very academic a levels at) so stick that up yer bum.

i think it's very easy to focus on a few scruffs and then make up your mind about the whole comp system (if you're looking for something to moan and pick holes about)

Ah, my yummy niece, who wears makeup every day to school, has just got a whopping clutch of A*s and is no trouble at all. It's very trivial stuff really.

When I was at school in the eighties. very long narrow skirts were in fashion and they made it virtually impossible to get up and down stairs. We had a Maximum skirt length. There are also strict regulations about excluding students for appearance. You can't exlude for hairstyle now and as students know this, you can't do anything!