Did anyone else who went to primary school in the mid-80s have to do PE in their vest and pants?

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

I was telling my colleagues who are in their twenties about it and they looked at me like this: 🙄

Did anyone else experience this? Or was my school slightly strange?

Yes, in infants we did.

Yep! Born in 1981 vest and pants indoor p.e I remember being mortified and I would have been in infants school. Although I do have an obscure memory of forgetting my p.e kit and having to do it in vest and pants that would have been juniors.... Oh god 😣

I went to a Catholic Sec in the 60's, so it was never big knickers, either a short divided skirt or a short gymslip, with the ordinary school shirt. However, the first time I went to a non-dom Sec school with the netball team, I was shocked that those girls were all wearing big knickers!

Yup, in seventies and early eighties this was completely normal!! 😮🤣

I bet most primary children aren’t even wearing a vest now (I used to put DD in one).
It also another cost parents didn’t incur then, and we just wore cheap plimsoles or socks.

I had to run through the streets, for cross country running, in my navy blue gym knickers when I was 11 years old! No wonder I hated PE

Yes, at secondary school too - big old navy blue knickers were part of the uniform and had to be worn with a t-shirt for athletics. Absolutely mortifying, especially if you tended towards the chunkier side! This was early 80s

Nope. I started school in the sixties and we had PE kit!

Yes I remember doing this in the mid 90s. I also remember forgetting to wear a vest to school so had to just do it in my knickers.

I remember it feeling so wrong but not understanding why. So shocking it was allowed.

Yes we did, mid 80s then early 90s we got an upgrade to PE knickers.... which had unrealistic leg hole that were so tight!

after a lot of protesting at the age of 10/11 we could wear short (very short) cycling shorts under our PE skirts.

we also used to get hit with a rounders post if we didn't run fast enough in a circle round the completely unhinged PE teacher!

As in just a vest and knickers?! Surely it was set up to humiliate..

For musical movement we did. I think we wore our outdoor pe stuff if we were using the indoor apparatus though.

Absolutely...preprep in 70's .. jumper, pinafore and blouse off ...left on chair in classroom.
Ran round hall being fairies or butterflies...some star jumps and rolly Polies on gym mat and back to class...job done.
Teachers must have loved it compared to now.

Life was so different back then!!

For indoor PE, girls wore white vest and large navy blue knickers over our main knickers. Outdoors PE, we had a very short pleated skirt and the navy blue knickers. This was up until 1991, when I left secondary school.

Not in the 80s, I started secondary in 1981 and in junior school we had a PE kit of PE knickers and tshirts, but vest and knickers in infant school.

Why do so many posters think it's humiliating or so awful...five yr olds should not feel like that.
Knickers and vest is no different from swim wear that we all think small children running around a public beach wearing is normal

Me too. High school from 91-97 and this was athletics kit throughout. Awful.

If you forgot your PE kit, yes. I remember having to do sports day in my vest and pants because I couldn’t find my PE kit and there were only massive shorts in the lost property.
I was allowed to wear my cardigan in between races.

But then in 1978 (8yo), I was in a Top of the Pops themed school concert as a member of Legs and Co, wearing a sparkly bikini and in 1977 (7yo) I was Miss Siver Jubillee at a holiday camp in a swim suit.

Yep, no uniform in either in the late 70s. I do remember feeling quite anxious about it even then.

Yes, absolutely normal in my Infant school and I think Juniors too. 1981-1989.

At Infants, I think it was just your own vest and pants. At Juniors, it was your own vest but a pair of those gigantic acrylic ‘pants’ that you put on over the top of your own pants.

As an overweight teenager in a mixed school it was absolutely humiliating

When I was in school in the 60s we did PE in our navy pants and vest.
The boys put dragonflies down our pants 😳

I don’t remember feeling embarrassed or traumatised about it at all. Everyone was in their vest and pants- it seemed normal at the time 🤷🏼‍♀️