School brings in trousers only rule for all pupils - schoolgirls said to be in tears ...

No, I'm applying the Equality Act to the situation.

Indeed, the one part that isn't uniform already sees competition (and ironically ends up as uniform as everyone has to own the same expensive thing).

Non-school uniforms days see a battle where every boy needs to have the latest season's football top etc.

Yes, in the 1970s wearing trousers made your legs hairy. And washing your hair more than once a week destroyed the natural oils. And we all want oily hair.

My concern for girls possibly being worried about bleed-through when wearing trousers would be greater if they were not rolling their skirts up to expose their knickers.

This. I remember the skirt-rolling thing back in the 70s, at an all-girls school. Rebellion was that, and not tying your hair back, and not having the approved kind of shoes ( outrageous platform soles were in fashion just then).

We weren't allowed to wear trousers, but it felt as if they were fighting a rearguard action even then. I think most of us wore trousers when we weren't in school. I certainly did, and remember feeling very cynical when we were told that wearing trousers was "unhealthy".

The only thing that would annoy me if they are in year 11 I would have already had the uniform from the previous year so would be annoyed I had to go out and buy trousers. Maybe they could start it from year 7.

A health risk?? 😂

I recall that when I was at high school in the '70s, when we had mandatory hockey we'd wear our navy blue pleated games skirts with a pair of navy blue shorts under them in order to make sure that everything was covered. (The PE uniform was actually supposed to be navy shorts or the games skirt plus navy blue knickers but - certainly one we reached S3 - about 14 yrs old - we all wore the shorts with the games skirt.)

I often have a problem getting trousers which fit comfortably - I'm between 5ft 8 and 9, but my legs are only 31 inches: it's my torso that's longer.

To the trouser equation, I'll add that girls tend to have more of a bleed-through problem with trousers than with skirts in my experience.

No, I'm not looking (before anyone starts commenting) but particularly when I was a young secondary school teacher I'd have girls coming to me for help when they were caught out. (More specifically, they'd send one of their pals to speak to me.)

At the point when I was in perimenopause, I recall that I more or less gave up on wearing trousers to work and switched to thick skirts. Even running to the loo at the end of each lesson left me in danger of being embarrassed - and that was with HRT. (Yes, I did see my doctor.) Possibly because of my own problems, I'm in favour of girls having a choice.

So far as problems with short skirts and unsuitable trousers and leggings are concerned, believe you me that it did become very obvious in the classroom.

I can't recall ever being aware of girls rolling up their skirts. I've only ever worked in Central Scotland.

The midi was in fashion when I was at high school and the girls round our way don't need to roll up their skirts - they just turn up in mini-skirts. Some kind of elasticated concoction appears to be in vogue at the moment, though they're wearing them with black tights.

Rebellion. Way back in the mists of time my school instigated a ‘floor rule’ for skirts: the hem had to touch the floor when you knelt down. Otherwise - detention. So we rebelled by taking it to the other extreme and wearing longer and longer skirts.

I think that's a fair and honest description of the situation, and people who've worked in schools have said pretty much the same thing here. What wouldn't have been honest would have been "It distracts the boys", even if that could be true. The real point is that school pupils putting on a sexualised appearance makes adults uncomfortable, partly at seeing it themselves, and partly because they know it affects the view that outsiders have concerning the school. If the girls would just wear the uniform properly, nobody would have a problem with it.

It's an interesting question why girls want to do this with their school uniforms. They're mostly going around in jeans and leggings when they're not in school, so why the urge to have ultra-short skirts?

A uniform wouldn’t stop that here anyway as the coat is whatever you like.

Any parent under pressure to buy a £1000+ coat for offspring because the 'other kids' have them who doesn't say 'sorry the other kids have idiotic parents, but I can't afford that' has made the rod for their own back.

I see plenty wearing skirts actually. If you go in the girls section of shops like Zara, you’ll see plenty of skirts on the racks. I bought two skirts for my daughter from there recently.

Yeah I have my own theories about the chicken and egg of that situation but it's certainly a fact that people in the UK will never stop arguing about what children are wearing to school. Someone's always cross about something being inappropriate or too hot or too cold or too uncomfortable or too scruffy or too expensive or not fair. It all goes round and round ad infinitum so I was just saying how nice it is to be out of it (and I grew up going to schools with uniforms in England).

Discussions about schools here are all about behaviour and learning, which are more interesting and important imo, and God knows there are enough problems there.

It's a bit like saying there is climate change and then you saying "well there isn't climate change on Mars".

British schools have uniform policies to fit in with the culture of the Britain. People are seriously naive to think everything will be better without school uniform, it seriously won't.

Idk about teenage but primary stage here it works well.

I'm saying it doesn't happen here. As I say, perhaps it's a deeper problem within the culture.

I really think schools who ditched uniform and just let kids wear more or less their usual clothes would find they had far fewer problems with appropriateneaa of clothing. They could have a school hoodie or sweatshirt and just let them wear jeans, even.

Well it does happen.

A parent I know is under pressure to buy their child a £1k+ Canada Goose coat because the other kids have one.

What do the girls wear when out of school uniform? I reckon it's jeans, wide legs, jog pants, yoga pants and so on. I've never seen teenagers wearing a skirt when out and about!

So mirror the leisure wear, make it practical for all sizes and shapes, e.g. elastic waist, not fitted, loose, with a light jersey/viscose etc. version for coming into Summer, and a heavier version (like fleece lined) for Winter. Plain black, white polo shirt and black cardigan, all available off the peg in supermarkets and other ordinary shops.

What say you?

Might seem obvious but they clearly felt they needed to spell it out. There seem to be enough parents and students who think that tackling kids about clothing is just a power trip for all teachers. I'm sure they exist but most of us hated it.

What kind of a pathetic wet wipe attitude to school uniform is this?! Bursting into tears. FFS. Absolutely ridiculous.

If a girl or girls burst into tears because they were expected to wear entirely ordinary garments, between breakfast time and early evening five days a week in termtime, for six years, that indicates that there is something pretty badly wrong with their sense of priorities.

They have the chance to work hard, acquire both knowledge and life skills, practice dealing with various forms of tests and assessments, do sports and art and music, and interact with people of their own age (which can be a horror or a joy) and they throw a meltdown over their school uniform?

Seriously unbalanced and should not be encouraged.

No, all those would be fine. There aren't any rules.

No idea it’s an all girls school.

always has been a bit of a quirk of schools though that girls are allowed to wear what they like (usually here are a few rules about no strappy tops and crop tops but nothing about no skirts ) but boys have to wear suits. I always thought it was sad the girls could wear jeans and were ready for university and boys had to look like they were ready for 12 hours days in a law firm

No, we didn't have uniforms when I was a kid and it was exactly as you say. Uneventful. No big issues. Girls wore jeans and sometimes skirts, there were no big endless debates.