6th form dress code

My DD choose college because she couldn't stand being nagged over clothes any more.
They have no strong requirements for dress, but do ask for "modesty" to respect others religious beliefs (quite a large number of Muslims).
DD respects this, and wears clothes that would have been fine with her old school sixth form. But she doesn't resentment the rules, as she did at school.

If I was in an office and colleagues started to say my clothes caused them problems, I would see them as the problem. If they want students to wear office dress then they should treat them more as if they were office workers.

I hate dress codes that want 6th formers to dress in suits. I work in an Investment Bank and what I generally wear to work would be considered way too casual for DDs school. Ridiculous, given that most of them will be off to uni where they can wear what they like. As for the idea that girls wearing short skirts may make male teachers uncomfortable. That would be given v short shrift by DD and her friends.

Everything Tinkly has said. Once they've been to uni and worn anything they wanted for three years then got their degree, we can assume they're bright enough to suss out the office culture in any job they're going for and adapt. And if they turn up for their first interview in a bikini top and sarong and don't get the job - well, lesson learned. Why do we assume that our young people are so stupid that they need years and years of being dressed as identical corporate drones to teach them the basics of acting and dressing appropriately for the environment? So patronising.

No-one in my office wears suits - we are in health research and the dress code is smart casual. Everyone manages to work out what that means.

Yes but these are kids of 16 and 17. What is the point of them spending two years looking like second rate estate agents, in cheap suits, when the brightest and most ambitious of them are the going off to Uni to spend the next three years in leggings and T shirts and jeans hanging off their arses?

It is just daft. They have plenty of time to learn about formal dress codes. The vast majority of them don't need to be doing it at 16.

Actually at 16 my sixth former son was scuffing a ball round the playground with his mates at lunchtime. I'm glad he isn't have to do that in a suit. Wearing jeans and trackies to sixth form hasn't stopped him being a sensible human being at 21.

why is it always turned in to "male gaze" "objectifying" maybe the teachers (male or female) don't want to see your DD's knickers or thong or whatever. (waits to get flamed)

If somebody walked in my office looking like they are going out to a nightclub. I will assume they have not got their mind on the job and are therefore not a serious player and will not get offered the job.

People make a decision within 7 seconds of meeting somebody if they like the look of them and want to work with them. First impressions last. Young people need this drummed into them especially in the tough job market we are in.

I agree homebythesea.

Yes it's a time warp and yes people in different industries wear different versions of "office wear" but for school purposes a suit for both sexes creates certainty. Otherwise they should just go full mufti with guidelines about cleavage and heel heights and the male staff could learn to be a bit less precious about their students' appearance!

I do think some schools are stuck in a timewarp unable to see beyond law and the city. Scientific researchers don't wear suits, computer programmers don't wear suits, hell my husband is a scientific salesman who last year shifted an amount I am embarrassed to mention: even he doesn't wear a suit any more. Just decent trousers, open neck shirt and vaguely coordinating jacket.

How many teenager have interviews though? Kids doing Art, where I imagine the emphasis is more on looking interesting than corporate: kids applying to Oxbrigde, again I doubt they are bothered what you look like: kids applying for things like medicine or nursing or teaching, okay, a dull suit may serve you well in this scenario.

Even for part time jobs, my three have worked in cafes, kitchens, sports coaching, retail and photography. They have secured all these jobs without having a suit between them.

This is a problem at DSs private school. Boys wear two piece suit or jacket annd trousers plus a tie. However, girls wear whatever they can get away with including crop tops.

Another private school I visited clearly girls were wearing skirt just above knee, jacket and blouse.

Enforcement is key.

The fact is that 6th formers need to dress maturely for interviews. Women have a hard enough time being taken seriously at work. It doesnt help if they dress like they are going to a nightclub. That comment I would direct at all women. Dress like you mean business.

Well Settling people with degrees wear all the clothes I've described above.

My DD1 is doing an Art degree so was interviewed, with her portfolio for all her places. She wore trendy short dresses, big boots, leather jacket, funky fur coat, that sort of thing. To be fair she did say some kids were at her interviews in grey suits. She got offers from all her, fairly prestigious, choices.

Everyone in my office wears jeans and t-shirts or hoodies.

That's a good point Tinkly. I have read this assuming they are at an traditional 6th form, not a technical college. And, I have assumed that the majority will be seeking university places.

How do DC show up for interviews for academic interviews? I genuinely have no idea. If they are all aiming to go on to university degrees, perhaps the school should be trying to have them dress as they would for an academic interview, which may be fairly casual.

Well, calling office dress "work clothes" presupposes they are all going to work in an office. Presumably some will work in uniforms, some will work in labs, some will work in physical/outdoorsy jobs, some will work in creative industries with entirely different dress codes.

I run a pretty successful business and I don't even own a suit. I went to see my accountant and financial adviser last week in jeans and a suede jacket. Nobody batted an eyelid.

It's a nice idea for have the kids to get used to wearing work clothes and already having "interview" ready outfits in their wardrobes. That way, when they go for a job interview, they won't feel awkward in the clothes, and they won't have to go and spend a bunch of money in a hurry for an interview suit/dress on Monday.

However, it sounds like the school hasn't achieved this at all. The boys are in jeans! The girls don't sound appropriate either.

Most worrying, instead of guiding the students on appropriate dress for people their age just starting out in the professional world, they have become obsessed with others' reactions to the girls' bodies. Not the girls' problem really.

business dress is completely unclear.

they should just call it "choose your own uniform" consisting of dress/skirt/tailored trousers, shirt/top, blazer.

At my daughters very good selective sixth form the dress code basically amounts to, "No crop tops, no hotpants, no getting your cleavage out".

DD's friends wear shorts, dungarees, band T shirts and Doc Martins. Many have coloured hair and piercings. They will mostly be getting As and Bs for their Alevels and going to very good universities.

Insisting kids wear Next suits is an absolute nonsense.

girls

I think it's fair enough to specify that both boys and grins need to wear tops that don't reveal their bare chests and bottoms that come to the knee.

Now I've rtft I do agree that you should write in. Not on their behalf but to challenge the sexist attitude (that it's women who should modify their dress because otherwise men feel uncomfortable)

At work women do wear short skirts, it's not at all unusual or unacceptable

And trousers that don't show the shape of your bottom? Er, a skirt then?

What I would say though is that I spoke to a woman at work who was showing a LOT of cleavage, all the time, and said she might want to tone it down. She did.

I don't think anyone is expecting sixth formers to wear expensive statement dresses, but specifically excluding many items that professional women regularly wear, kind of makes a nonsense of the whole thing.

Why they don' they just say a black, grey, navy business suit with a collared shirt/blouse? If that's what they want? Rather than trying to give the impression that this is 'business wear' for women.

I'm shocked and I've only read your OP

This is the contributory negligence argument fgs

The statement dresses I wear in my city law firm job couldn't be further from the M&S two pieces they tried to make me wear for businesswear at 6th form! I think when they prescribe office wear they mean 'please wear what a woman 30 years older than you might wear if she worked behind the counter at Natwest'.

I think they mean 'please wear something smart-ish, like the affordable suits at Next/M&S'. Imagine the outrage at selection-by-the-back-door if they insisted that everyone wore expensive designer 'statements'.

Probably written by men who don't even know what their own wife or colleagues wear to work. There are plenty of them about!