Ridiculous uniform policy for secondary

Does make for a much nicer atmosphere, all schools are like that where I am and there seems to be a lot less conflict between students and teachers.

I am sorry but I don't follow. @MumonabikeE5 stated that 50 perc of kids in her area are on FSM. So I asked her if there is huge unemployment in the area.
Are you MumonabikeE5 or do you live in the same are as her?

Housing benefits are receiving people who are unemployed, disable, very low income.

@Smoothie23 yes I know 🙂
What I meant was there seems to be such this "thing" about girls insisting they wear the school skirt (instead of trousers) and then wearing them rolled up so their arse shows - but out of school rarely wear skirts.
Why? Why are they doing it?
If they want the boys to notice their legs or whatever why don't they do it out of school?
If they're doing it because "women should be able to dress as they like" why don't they do it out of school?
It's a mystery I just don't understand.
(By "out of school" I mean weekends etc)

Dd went to a school where you called the teachers by their first name and overall I think it had a positive outcome.
If someone was struggling with some part of their work the teachers felt a lot more approachable

Secondary school uniforms are outdated now, most Cororate/professional type jobs have started to relax on dress codes, but schools seem to be getting stricter. Our local high school introduced something similar when it changed to an academy, the pupils looked awful and scruffy as everything was so ill fitting .

We are talking about uniform skirts. Out of school I interprete as when they walk out of school

Totally agree.
It’s the idea that young people/children can’t be trusted to make their own decisions and choices. All is does is breed resentment especially when the teachers themselves come in smart casual and the kids are trussed up like 1980s yuppies. So bizarre in 2024.

Meanwhile you took the time to comment. 🤣

That does sound ridiculous OP.
What if all the parents just ignored this and bought sensible and propetly fitting clothes from wherever suited them best?

Personally I think schools should have no uniform policy what so ever
Sometimes I think there is a tendency to baby children and take away from them the ability to make small choices and the consequences to those choices

I think saying to children come in what you want but these are the lessons you are having so make sure you wear suitable clothing and hairstyle to take part and the clothing and hairstyle doesn’t interfere with other people or the teaching of the lesson and that clothing is long enough and high enough that bum cheeks and boobs are covered at all times

If you choose to wear designer or expensive clothing and shoes then the school holds no responsibility if they get ruined.

I don’t think it would take long before everyone would be coming in jeans t.shirt, trainers and a hoodie because they don’t want to get their nicer clothes ruined by wearing them to school

Too much time on yr hands.

I was out on Friday night watching my son's band at a club and I'd say about 50% of girls were wearing trousers, 40% wearing skirts and 10% wearing shorts.

I think this is very telling.
There’s this idea in the Uk that having a uniform puts everyone on the same ‘playing field’ and reduces bullying but it’s a misconception. It causes so much angst and resentment and I hate to say it but they all still know who is poor and who isn’t 😞

I’ve spent time teaching in secondary school in Spain (no uniforms in state schools in Spain) and it makes no difference negatively at all to behaviour or motivation or anything like that. In fact if anything the kids are more relaxed and can concentrate better. They also call their teachers by their first names which actually increases respect as it feels like they are as respected as the adults so they behave more respectfully.

What I don't understand is out of school I rarely see teenage girls wearing skirts.

The thing is, schools are inevitably on a losing battle with skirt lengths. You only have to be outside a secondary school when the children are going in or out to see how many girls roll their skirts up. Realistically the only way to deal with it is to take skirts right out of the equation and insist on trousers for both boys and girls.

I live in London with dozens of school around. Trust me, most of them have it at least here rolled up.

@TizerorFizz I actually see a lot of schools that say skirts should be worn "on the knee or just above the knee". I actually think "above the knee" is too short to start with and all a girl has to do is grow a couple of inches and the skirt is far to short.
Why do schools say "above the knee" to start with? They are practically encouraging skirts being too short.

To get from knee length to bum length is a lot of rolling. Cannot see that much fabric at the waist! I think these skirts are starting off pretty short. Looking at girls in coffee shops they don’t have bulging fabric anywhere!

@Smoothie23 It’s the opposite! High numbers on benefits. We don’t have many areas of high unemployment. It’s very low wages and single parents. 50% is high but not wholly unusual. Job seekers allowance is given to 88,000 people, employment and income support is over 1.7 million. Housing benefit is 2.3 million people.

Benefits are usually as a result of unemployment or very low income below the threshold. It is hard to assume that 50 perc of population somewhere has disability and is on benefits. Unemployment must be huge in that area.

Parents do not agree on shortening skirts as they know school uniform policy. Here in London the girls are rolling them up and it is visible as often they have that skirt uneven. A bit shorter one one side, longer the other side.

Doing the rounds of secondary school open evenings they all touched on how in 6th form there is no school uniform but ask that students dress “office ready”

It really irked me that the assumption was that all our children would end up working in an office,

Did ask one HT why office ready? As there are many other career paths that a student could choose.

He really didn’t seem to understand the question (despite in his speech about the school he talked about how times are changing and there were going to be jobs that hadn’t been thought about yet)

Smart casual office wear can mean anything
I have been to offices where smart casual means dark coloured trousers or skirts a blazer and heels and I have been to offices where smart casual means you ironed your jeans and T.shirt

I also know more people who don’t work in an office than do.

I don’t think schools have caught up with what office wear actually means. They are still basing their A level pupils “uniform” on something from the 1980s

My daughter would hate this. She is very fussy about trousers and only likes to wear leggings due to sensory issues. She has opted to wear the skirt at her new school (trousers are an option at her school for those who want them).

Why would any child want to spend their day in smart casual office wear?

@Bearybasket most 6th forms do that.
Except they look nothing like actual office workers. On another thread I said the girls in this "office wear" dress like they are in an episode of Ally McBeal from the 90s.
Actual office workers seem to dress in long skirts and converse these days.

I understand your thinking but teachers' time would be absolutely eaten up with enforcing the dress code. There would need to be such strict definitions of the clothing that was and wasn't permitted that you would simply end up with a de facto uniform policy.