To wonder how a school can allow their girls to dress like this?

[Piggyleroux]

I only have 1 ds of 18 mo so am probably very out of touch but here goes.

I picked up dh from his weekend on call at queens hospital in Romford. On the way I was stuck in traffic outside a school and was frankly shocked by how short the girls skirts were. They were actually bum skimming. They also were all wearing over the knee black socks so a vast quantity of thigh was on show.

Am I just an old prude? I felt sad tbh that they felt they had to dress like this probably to fit in. Why doesn't the school impose a below the knee rule?

MoreBeta, I found your post interesting because it rang a bell. School skirt length is a really sore point with me atm. Dd's school has been in special measures and threatened with closure because of its dismal results. None of the girls were sticking to the uniform, they were wearing shorts, leggings, tiny skirts - all sorts. Anything but uniform! Last year the school changed the uniform and we all had to spend a fortune on overpriced new jumpers etc. When I took dd to check sizes before buying I asked a member of staff why the change and she confided that they thought it would be easier to enforce the rules if everyone had to get new stuff . Well so much for that, within a few weeks you'd have been forgiven for thinking the school uniform for the girls was a tiny little lycra skirt, so many of them were wearing them. We had a couple of texts saying there would be a 'crackdown' but it was just laughable how little discipline there was as nothing changed whatsoever.
This year the school has become an academy. There is another new uniform. Actually I don't think it's very attractive but it was chosen by the pupils so they have no grounds for complaint. Every pupil was given a FREE uniform so the parents have no grounds for claiming they cannot afford to supply the proper skirt. We have been told endlessly how the uniform is going to be strictly enforced, discipline at the school will be at an all-time high, it's a fresh start etc etc.
Guess what? Not even half-term yet and when I gave dd a (rare) lift to school this morning nearly every girl was sporting a severely shortened school skirt! (and they weren't ALL rolled up at the waistband, you could see where they had been turned up. One girl's hem was coming down at the back and she'd obviously taken it up about 3 inches). So much for the discipline/pride in the uniform other rubbish we have had spouted at us, if the staff can't even enforce this one thing, no wonder everything else is so disorganised. It doesn't give me much faith in the new HT turning things around tbh.

(btw dd has picked the trousers option in case you are wondering ).

I didnt go to school looking like I was audititioning for a job at spearmint rhino though! Girls go caked in make-up,fake tanned so much they make jordan look anemic,hair bleached to within a inch of its life,minging acrylic nails. Its truly vile. compared to this the girls round here look very normal Alouiseg I think I am a bit in love with you you talk sense

JMHPG, I'd say that if someone comes up to you and slaps you you can be confident that that person is a slapper. HTH.

Not sure it was me that said that though! But carry on being in love, I'm like a sponge I can soak it all up :o

no I meant other stuff you have said,Alouiseg that quote was someone else

Let the love fest resume then

Good Lord! Is this back in fashion again?

How quaint!

Actually, I think we're about due a revival of the skirts down to mid-calf that I remember the big girls wearing when I was at school.

Pixel feel sorry for your dd is their now way you can move child from said school

13yo DD's explanation of a slapper - shirt unbuttoned, skirt up to armpits, boyfriend draped like an accessory with one hand inside the school shirt and one hand up the skirt. . though I have to say, I do think that her '90%' of the girls being like this is an exaggeration - it's more like about 50%, the rest seem to be wearing trousers. And the ones in the short skirts this afternoon DID seem to have the boyfriend as an accessory.

Not read most of the messages here but AIBU to think schools are to teach and not to enforce dress codes.

In my High school days (mid-late 90s) it was the fashion to have short skirts in years 8&9 and floor dragging long skirts in years 10&11, teachers hated the long skirts more.

These days I'm the teacher constantly telling the boys to pull their trousers up!

There is a massive difference between a little girl in a short dress with knee socks and an older kid/teen in a miniskirt and stockings. Surely everyone can see that?

OP YANBU. Ugh. No way in hell would my daughter be wearing anything like that with my knowledge. Of course I remember what went on at the bus stop so who knows how they're leaving the house... :)

Riven I live in Romford as it happens.
I will suggest to my DD (9) that I hoik my skirt up and walk to school with her.
I can just picture her face

DS wears a pair of M&S trousers, Next blazer, M&S shirt, Clarks shoes- and still manages to look like he's raided the nearest landfill site!

It's the same where I live - looks awful on the chubbier girls. But I can't point the finger at my local schoolgirls, because I used to roll my skirt over at the waistband, just as they do now. Some girls used to staple their skirts up at the hem; far worse as it wasn't good for the (very expensive) skirts.

I once got hauled out of assembly by my form teacher as my skirt was "showing your bottom". Happy days. In the sixth form we were allowed to dispense with uniform and wear what we liked. What I liked was full hippie regalia, causing my friend to tell me "you look like Whistler's Mother". I laughed my head off, as it was a pretty apt description.

I have two DDs (11 & 7) average height, both bought skirts the same style from M&S (these skirts were longer than most styles available), Both skirts big on waist, so going up a size not really possible. DD2 is fine should last her all year even if she grows, DD1 well I hope her doesn't grow or her pants will be on show, so she will be wearing her winter tights next summer

And honestly who in their right mind would put a 6 year old girl in knee high boots? How are you supposed to run and play?

Put them all in overalls and plain long sleeved shirts and send them out to climb trees for awhile. :)

Exactly what Tanith said.

Short skits and over knee socks are nothing new. It's like 1984 all over again.

Hey you are talking Essex girls here, their skirts are 4" shorter than the average at least.

Romford is now a shit pit, all the girls have had sex by the time they hit 15.

My aunt lives round the corner from a school in Essex (not a private one, a comp) and all the kids look so so smart. The boys wear a normal business suit, which is so much nicer than blazers imo, and the girls wear the same skirt, but it is reasonably fashionable to my eye (not an a line polyester horror) and they look very smart indeed, no short lycra, no insane hair.

Not much parents can do about girls rolling their skirts up at the waistband the minute they've left the house.

I always assumed my own high school uniform was deliberately horribly unflattering: either a chocolate brown kilt or a full Bannockburn tartan (lovely yellow and chocolate brown). Chocolate brown jumper and blazer. I imagined it was an attempt to limit the chances of anyone getting up the duff. Worked for my year but the gossip said not so well in my sister's year...

The uniform at that school has changed now and it's a lovely shade of blue. Far less character forming, I'm sure!

I have 4 DDs and a constant battle with 3 of them. The school say 'knee length' skirts, no makeup, flat shoes...

DD1 (15) has a skirt which is probably 3 inches above her knee when she leaves the house. This is meant to be a compromise. She's also allowed mascara (she's very self conscious about her blond eyelashes). I've caught her on numerous occasions with her skirt rolled to buttock length, and the end of last term I caught her in a body-con lycra micro mini which she'd bought herself and changed into. She also has a tendency to sneak on two pounds of eyeliner. We've talked about it (what kind of impression she might give off, rules are for a reason etc.), I've grounded her ('I swear I'm not rolling it up any more mum'), I've confiscated the eyeliner...but in the long run, nothing works.

Honestly, if anyone has a suggestion, I'm up for it! (Trousers are not allowed at her school.)

DD2 (13) is better behaved than her sister in this respect. Her skirt is also around 3 inches above the knee. I've caught her rolling it up too, but not to the dizzy heights of her sister - hers is mid thigh at worst. We talked about keeping the rules etc, and she cried and said everyone does it. A quick swing past the school confirms this as the truth, so it's really difficult to police, and I'm not naive enough to think she's stopped rolling it up. Makeup wise, she sticks to mascara which I'm fine with tbh.

DD3 (11) has just started secondary. Day 1 she set off looking lovely in a knee length skirt. By the end of week 1, she came back with it rolled up to mid thigh. We had 'the talk', and now she's promised to wear it properly although has no doubt followed her sisters' example and just rolls it up when she leaves the house . She's already begging for makeup because 'everyone else wears it', but that's a definite no for now.

DD4 (8) is still at primary, and happily wears her skirt an inch or so above her knees. Long may it continue...

Long story short - some of us mums of girls are trying REALLY hard, but it's not easy. We're not bad mums, just exhausted ones...

That's all you can do, Gradually. :) You sound like a lovely mum!

Hmm - dd is 13. Regularly say, would you like me to get you a shorter skirt so you look trendy, do you want cut off doc Martens, do you want your hair layered, shall I take you to a really nice store and get someone at the make-up counter to show you how to put make up on nicely, would you like to get some ballet pumps, would you like some pretty bras from the grown up counter. Remembering always what a plain, boring child I was because I never got it quite right. Constant response "don't be silly mummy, that would be breaking the rules" or "I'm not really interested mummy". Funny old world isn't it - teenagers are very contrary - have I got it right in a backhanded sort of way?