Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

325 replies

Piggyleroux · 10/10/2011 09:57

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?

OP posts:
ElaineReese · 10/10/2011 15:00

I don't think I ever had the body confidence at 15 to think that I could make anyone gawp! I wonder if the girls now have more (hence not minding showing the world so much flesh) or less (hence feeling that they aren't really 'valid' if they're not showing the world so much flesh)?

I know that last year, it did definitely become the case in dd's year that you would have been making more of a statement by not wearing a short skirt (well, by wearing a long skirt, not just not wearing a skirt!), than you were by wearing one.

Funnily enough dd is the only year 10 girls now who doesn't wear trousers - she just likes her skirt better (not too short!) and like me she has short legs so struggles to get trousers that fit properly.

I have asked and asked if she doesn't mind, in case I'd poisoned her mind by saying I hated school trousers, but she says she just wants to wear a skirt.

stepawayfromtheecclescakes · 10/10/2011 15:01

Alouiseg ahh memories.... as I said earlier young girls will experiment both with sexuality and FASHION and no amount of tutting will change that, its gone on for ever.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:01

the parents let them obv

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:02

( this then turnt into " cant a school find something better to worry about thread !)

loveglove · 10/10/2011 15:05

*When I was at school we deliberately used to customise our uniforms, stand by the traffic lights and see how many drivers we could get gawping.

The best way was a really rolled up skirt, a very skinny tie with a loosely unbuttoned shirt and the regulation stilletoes we used to keep in our bag. We used to call it "perv baiting".

This was in 1984 and 1985 *

OK. I'd like to know exactly why I was yelled at by the majority of mumsnet for suggesting this sort of thing happened a while ago?!

MillyR · 10/10/2011 15:09

Maybe you phrased it differently LG? Maybe you were referring to primary children or maybe you were suggesting all teens who dressed this way were attempting to get adult male attention? I don't remember your particular thread though.

Rivenwithoutabingle · 10/10/2011 15:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:15

yet a school can?

loveglove · 10/10/2011 15:15

MillyR it was a thread about teenagers. It's disgusting to say primary kids would do this.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:16

teahcers waste an inordinate of time havign rows with kids over contraband items the parents buy them, the parents who let kids have FAKE PHONES to hand in at start of day as school has agreed with the parents. so they can then keep their real phone on them

the piercings in the middle of term time against rules.

i am not sure about all these rules but tbh if you dont like them then do to a different school

ditto skirts - parents dont buy the slutty lycra ones

Rivenwithoutabingle · 10/10/2011 15:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:17

so teachers say " roll your skirt down"
the kid rolls it down.
the kids leave school.
there you are

ElaineReese · 10/10/2011 15:18

Slutty lycra ones cost £2.99 in H&M. Most teenaged girls can afford that all by themselves.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:18

i taught at very suceessful rough as hell school that had deputy heads patrolling the local area in a 3 m radius telling kids to put blazers on and behave

theny oud get human rights shit ;)

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:19

and i have HUGE issues about schools banning skirts - very worrying developement.
also buttons undone and tits showing
I always ask them if they would approve of me as a professional if i had cleavage on show - they WINCE in horror

OhYouBadBadKitten · 10/10/2011 15:20

dd started off with her skirt on her knees 5 weeks ago but she has sprouted enormously in that short a time and now it is distinctly above her knees. Wouldnt mind but they are skirts that we can only buy at school and I've not worked out when they are on sale.

GetOrfMo1Land · 10/10/2011 15:21

i must say i loathe the lycra skirts - I am pleased that dd is a confirmed scruffbag trouser wearer.

What would teachers prefer? I spoke to a teacher friend who said that uniform is a good thing, as because the kids are rebelling about how they do their ties they are not rebelling about something more serious (or something along those lines). Would it not just be easier for everyone if uniform was not a requirement? Then you wouldn't have to stand their with cleanser whilst the Amy Winehouses take their eyeliner off. It seems a waste of time and effort imo (and I have not axe to grind in this at all, dd hasn't inherited my make up obsession and doesn't wear a scrap of it).

Proudnreallyveryscary · 10/10/2011 15:22

IMHO, smart uniforms are not indicative of a 'good school' - sometimes it's quite the opposite ie concentrating on the wrong thing.

The girls at our local (absolutely excellent) secondary wear very short cut off shorts and opaque tights and checked shirts (ie trendy but not brassy even though revealing a lof of leg!). There is no uniform.

I've not read past first page so am fully aware I've probably walked right into an insane bun fight.

GetOrfMo1Land · 10/10/2011 15:23

I don't think I have ever seen girls locally from any of the 9 schools here walking round with their shirts undone and cleavage on display - that is a new thing surely. local trend is to wear huge bloody great scarves and/or t shirts underneath the shirts.

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:23

i dont like it aesthtically but can afford clothes for sons. and have no issues with bullying
mate in london primary said trainer thing was a big issue, a kid used to stand at the gate in the morning and say " cool shoes , crap shoes" as kids walked past..

ti also helps outside school recognising troublemakers ( or kind kids i suppose!)

Alouiseg · 10/10/2011 15:23

Is no one else on this thread going to admit to tarting up their school uniform? It's a phase, it's boundary pushing, it's sexual experimentation. It's also completely normal. Not worth getting a blue rinse and a sweet sherry for.

GetOrfMo1Land · 10/10/2011 15:25

The local academy has a very strict uniform code - they imposed a new uniform the start of the last academic year (hideous, cardboardy pale grey blazers with cricket style pullovers) andt hey always look very smartly dressed, despite the crap reputation of the academy. The local grammar schools, some of which are best in the country, they look like scruffs.

loveglove · 10/10/2011 15:26

I can safely say I never "tarted up". I tied my tie so it was small and fat though, and wore doc martens. I also NEVER wore black bras under my shirt - that is WELL trampy. I used to work with a woman who did it too :0

AnnetteProfit · 10/10/2011 15:27

agree alousieg

but the look is typically FAR more sexed up now than in the late 80s

GetOrfMo1Land · 10/10/2011 15:27

DD always complains about inter-school turf wars on the buses - kids from other schools easily recognised by the uniform (lots of local issue about kids from grammar schools ambushed by kids from the comps).