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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to talk to headmaster about skirt lengths?

112 replies

Redhillibilly · 24/09/2012 23:05

DD is in Yr 1. I have noticed that quite a few of the older girls are wearing very short skirts and I am thinking about speaking to the HT about it but don't want to come across as a wally.

My thinking is that a) it is just not appropriate and b) I would imagine that over the course of a year, once the cool girls start wearing short skirts, others may wish to follow to look cool; I don't want that pressure being around at primary school.

So, would I be a total wally to make a comment and if not, what's the best way to go about it?

OP posts:
amillionyears · 24/09/2012 23:09

The school probably has a uniform policy.
It may appear on the school's website.
If it doesnt,you could ask to see it.
Dont know who it would be best to ask to see it,school secretary?

Shellywelly1973 · 24/09/2012 23:10

YES!!!!

WorraLiberty · 24/09/2012 23:13

Yr 1?

So she's aged 5 or 6?

What on earth is wrong with little girls wearing short skirts/tunics at that age?

Primary only goes up to age 11 so I'm sure there's nothing untoward in their innocent hem lines that their parents have chosen Confused

NakedButNotFamous · 24/09/2012 23:14

Yr1? YABU

Themumsnot · 24/09/2012 23:15

Go ahead.
If you want the HT to think you are a complete loon, that is.

usualsuspect3 · 24/09/2012 23:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Redhillibilly · 24/09/2012 23:16

Sorry, I didn't explain, the older girls are in Yr 5/6.

OP posts:
numptymark1 · 24/09/2012 23:16

my DD is an 'older girl' who wears a short skirt

with thick black tights and a pair of brogues

it's long enough to be age appropriate but probably shorter than what would be considered a school skirt

my dd had hit puberty early and is curvy, I hate box pleat skirts and the straight school skirts are far too big on her waist to fit her hips and she looks and feels uncomfortable

so I bought her some adults black skirts from H&M ,which fit her and no one has complained about length

the other thing with skirt lengths is that children grow so skirts get shorter

I actually don't put mine in trousers because of the issue of them only fitting for a couple of weeks

and after all that....

YABU, if school isn't bothered it's no concern of yours how short other children's skirts are

WorraLiberty · 24/09/2012 23:18

Year 5 = 9/10 yr olds

Year 6 = 10/11 yr olds

Sorry but what exactly is your problem?

Do you see short skirts on little girls as some sort of 'sexual' thing?

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 24/09/2012 23:20

If we're talking bodycon skirts, YAnbu. And you're right that even girls who don't really want to wear them will feel they should. If we're talking shortish pleated skirts, YABU probably.

bubby64 · 25/09/2012 00:25

My friends DD had a short skirt a lot of the time in Yr6 of primary purely as she had several huge growth spurts and suddly developed these long , slender legs, and her mum couldn't afford to keep buying new uniform skirts (pleated kilt type school uniform skirt) The little ones all had skirts down almost to their ankles as theirs had been bought to "grow into!"

redpanda13 · 25/09/2012 07:09

I was a primary school child in the 70s. Looking back at school photos I am always struck by how short the skirts were. I do not remember anybody thinking children's legs were shameful things that should be hidden away!

exoticfruits · 25/09/2012 07:16

I don't expect that a primary school has any mention of skirt lengths. Does it matter at that age? I grew fast and think that I would rather have had a short skirt than my mother's policy of one that 'I would grow into'.

SavoyCabbage · 25/09/2012 07:16

I wouldn't notice how long a ten or eleven year old child's skirt was.

exoticfruits · 25/09/2012 07:19

I have to say that having been a supply teacher for lots of upper juniors I can't even remember thinking about skirt lengths. I notice them in secondary age girls so I can't think that it is an issue.

CouthyMowWearingOrange · 25/09/2012 07:21

You would if it barely covered their arse cheeks and they were covered in lashings of mascara and fake tan. Like a proportion of the current Y6 girls. I see them daily, they are in my DS1's class.

And my DS1 has hit puberty early, and DOES find it, um, distracting...he may only be 10yo, but he is 5ft tall and has the hormones of the average 12/13yo swilling round his body.

It's a difficult line to tread, but it is DEFINITELY the girls doing it, I have seen them outside the school gates rolling their skirts up.

Fizzybee · 25/09/2012 07:22

Wow ummm is it a problem if your child is in year one? Really a direct problem to you

I could understand if your dd was older and you were worried about peer pressure but really you are being ott

TantrumsAndGoldAndOrange · 25/09/2012 07:24

I feel for you when your Dd hits secondary school and the 15 year olds are walking about in what are allegedly skirts but look more like belts. :)

Wolfiefan · 25/09/2012 07:25

Perhaps ask if there is a rule about skirt length as you've noticed lots of different lengths being worn.
I work at a secondary school and a limit has been imposed to prevent girls wearing belts (as opposed to skirts!)

ripsishere · 25/09/2012 07:35

TBH, I think YABU. Since it's coming up to autumn and winter, the mini skirt wearing trollops will be putting on either trousers or wooly tights soon.
My DD was in Y6 last school year. She is so thin I had to buy her age 7-8 clothes. They were shorter than I'd have liked but, since she was leaving school it was pointless buying her something to grow into.
FWIW, she used to wear her PE shorts under her dresses. She had a properly sweaty fanny by the end of the day. She commented, on moving to her latests school that it feels much nicer not wearing shorts as well as a skirt.

DowntonTrout · 25/09/2012 08:12

Going against the grain here but- we have knee length or just below specified in our uniform policy. That's the rule and everyone abides by it.

You need to check if there is such a rule at your school. I suspect there won't be though and there is probably nothing you can do about it.

exoticfruits · 25/09/2012 08:16

I have never seen skirt lengths specified in primary school uniform lists. If you were like me, with my mother, you started with too long and ended up too short before starting again with too long! (I didn't grow as fast at secondary)

crazygracieuk · 25/09/2012 08:17

Yabu to talk to the head but I have noticed the very short skirts too. Unlike the primaries, the secondaries round here are very strict about skirt length so it tends to be a y5/6 thing.
I don't know what the answer is but most state primaries are pretty lax about uniforms so I doubt it would register on the head's radar.

Theas18 · 25/09/2012 08:19

Snork! This is primary school. School should apply uniform policy if it exists and a quiet enquiry about what that policy is might be relevant.

Couthy if your post is really the case have you not spoken to school? When my DD was year 6 she was fully mature and the height she is now at 13. THe last thing in the whole wide world she wanted to do was flaunt it. Year 6 years just didn't choose dresses or skirts- ever. If your son finds it " distracting" he needs to learn to get a grip because they aren't going to get any less distracting at secondary.

RikersBeard · 25/09/2012 08:23

I saw a picture of me in my brownie dress the other day (early 80s). It was VERY short, must have been just before I left and DM didn't want to buy a new one.

I would save this debate for secondary school if I was you