Would it be such a bad idea to just allow smart trousers to be school uniform, and not skirts?

[Stanky]

I've seen many debates about school skirts being too short, and head teachers sending pupils home if their skirt is too short. The primary school we go to has had battles over girls wanting to wear shorts under their summer dresses. They say that this is not allowed due to "hygiene reasons". I still don't really understand what that means. I remember being at school myself and feeling peer pressure to roll my skirt up short, and look as much like Britney Spears as possible.

AIBU to think that it would just be easier to have all the children wear smart trousers or shorts for school uniform? Would that be such a bad thing? No more worrying about flashing underwear whilst playing or bending down, and ladders in school tights. Wouldn't really have to be so worried about shaving legs. Just seems like there's really no need for skirts. They're not practical at school, and they seem to open all sorts of cans of worms.

[665TheNeighbourOfTheBeast]

I've moaned over the years in RL and on forums about dark winter coats and never found anyone else who cared.
I know what you mean Apocalypse - it always strikes me as odd that we would change the hour - disrupt millions of peoples sleep patterns - always wheeling out the excuse that children will be safer going to school in the light,
and then let schools force them to dress in winter clothes that render them pretty much invisible...I cant see the logic.

[nooka]

Yes that's pretty much what my children's school dress code states. It applies to both students and staff which I like, and is basically, wear clothes that are neat and tidy and suitable for a learning environment. The winter code states that clothes should be warm and comfortable, the summer code that clothes should be cool but not revealing. It's all interpreted pretty liberally, the only thing they really get bothered about is rude slogans.

[Nataleejah]

Dress codes usually just say no underwear on display, no tank tops or spaghetti straps, no offensive slogans or gang colours. Nobody would care about socks or outer coats

[AppleAndBlackberry]

I was just thinking about this the other day, although my girls who are 5 and 6 are quite happy to hang upside down in the park with pants on full view to the world but I imagine that will end at some stage. I'd be happy to send them to either a school without uniform or a school with trousers only. Out of school one mainly wears leggings and the other dresses.

[lougle]

My girls wear cycling shorts underneath their summer dresses so they can go upside down on the monkey bars, etc.

[alleypalley]

Even if a school didn't have a uniform there would be some kind of dress code and that would probably take more time than a simple uniform to enforce.

Not necessarily, my dd's go to school in all sorts, including on occasion fancy dress and coloured hair spray. A while ago my youngest took a liking to a bowler hat and started wearing it to school.

My dd2 is starting secondary school in September, and while it does have a choice of skirts or trousers, everything has logos on it and it's going to cost me a fortune. Although at least the blazer is optional.

[dementedma]

Thought of this thread when a friend sent me a photo of his son and friends at school speech day last weekend. Boys in tails, waistcoats, black tie, flowers in lapels.....not your run of the mill school uniform! God knows what it costs. Mind you when fees are over £30k a year, I don't suppose it matters
Mine for their uniform from Asda and I just added a school tie. Sorted.

[Voteforpedr0]

And another point a full school uniform that is of a logo design costs more than a wardrobe of non branded kids clothes from say h and m or the like.

[HisNameWasPrinceAndHeWasFunky]

I would hate to wear trousers in the warmer months.

[ApocalypseSlough]

665 I've moaned over the years in RL and on forums about dark winter coats and never found anyone else who cared.

[665TheNeighbourOfTheBeast]

Schools "should" have uniform available from two different suppliers, and it should come to under £50 in total - some however just have very occasional second hand uniform sales on site to get around this

[Nataleejah]

I remember a thread a while ago where it was discussed that some school governors either owned or were related to a specific uniform supplier, therefore, a very specific uniform that can't be bought anywhere else. I wonder is that really legal

[665TheNeighbourOfTheBeast]

I completely despair of the school uniforms my girls have had to wear to go to the local secondary schools.
As my girls creep towards 6' I am waiting with anticipation the day they get sent home from school for having their skirts a foot above their knees..far far outside the school uniform requirements - but not a choice, because the suppliers don't even make the uniform in a suitable size.
The fitted blouses barely close across their chests as they have proportionately wide shoulders - and a thoughtless shrug is enough to blind someone with a selection of button shaped missiles.
You can also see many of the other girls in their uniforms, with the Frankenstein stitching up the back of the skirts, as they all split the too tight hemline, and those that cycle to school actually cannot do so in the restrictive skirts. so they hitch them up around their waists displaying shorts worn underneath (against school policy again )
Nor could they wear bright or reflective coats in winter - this would be against school policy. - Dark colours that go unnoticed in traffic are required!
No item can be bought at a reasonable price from a supermarket as the colours are particular to the school - so in summation
Its hideous - restrictive dangerous and far far too expensive..
the local boys school however sells badges at reception for a couple of quid for them to sew onto their supermarket standard grey jumpers.
As I said - despair!

[Nataleejah]

I think its more of a tradition thing here. Generations wore uniforms to school, hated or loved them, but survived, their children will too. Sod comfort, sod practicality, nobody knows any better

[Gileswithachainsaw]

And everyone falls for it.

you are basically being robbed.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

I think.they should just abolish uniform all together.

people should he able to wear comfy clothes. not over heat or put up with scratchy polyester.

nor should people have to pay over the odds fir a sodding logo when it could he bought in asda fir under a fiver.

if schools were effective in dealing with bullying them.the idea if wearing their own.clothes shouldn't be so horrific.

but then I think if you took the novelty out of clothes by allowing them. to be worn daily then i doubt they'd be many problems

uniform is just a platform. for all the useless teachers and heads out there to have something to shout " respect my authority" about.

and it's all just a big money making con witg all these regulation socks. I mean socks ffs. get a grip.

[SenecaFalls]

I'm not in the UK and I live in a warm climate where schools don't have uniform. Girls wear shorts to school year-round, if they choose to, at all ages.

[Voteforpedr0]

Let them wear what they want, why are we making our children wear stiff uncomfy shirts and unsuitable trousers for boys that are way too thin for colder months and enforcing skirts for girl which is totally sexist. My primary had no uniform and no one batted an eyelid at what any one else wore it wasn't even a topic of conversation ever. Roll on high school we had a uniform that we were all uncomfortable in and very unflattering, not encouraging individuality at all, the mondern day job market now is all about strong personalities and increasingly employers are looking for individuality and creativeness. Uniform seems to enforce a typically controlling backwards British way from the start it seems though, the same goes for all the lining up that our children have to do as early on as nursery wtf ? Stop turning our children into robots

[toffee1000]

We could wear trousers at my secondary school. There were only two girls in my year who did, though. Many girls rolled up their skirts but I don't remember anyone being sent home. From what I remember, they went as short as they could get away with. The rule used to be 'a hand width above the knee' but this was eventually changed as obviously different teachers have different sized hands. In year 11 the rule became "10 cm above the knee".
When I was at primary it was "girls wear skirts/boys wear trousers or shorts". None of us cared. Now the policy has changed and girls can wear trousers in winter and a polo shirt and shorts in summer if they wish.
We did have own clothes in sixth form, with rules like no shorts/no spaghetti strap tops etc.
For all those who say no uniform would be best, consider that in America there have been quite a few people who consider dress codes to be sexist, girls have to be "modest" etc. It's all about making sure boys aren't distracted. Girls are often disciplined much more than boys, even if what a boy is wearing is also against the dress code.

[WaitrosePigeon]

During the summer that is..

[WaitrosePigeon]

Are girls allowed to wear shorts at school?

[annandale]

Maybe we've solved the British productivity issue - a large chunk of the population is spending ridiculous amounts of time and energy on school uniform. If only it could just be abolished.

[pointythings]

Just abolish all uniform. Hordes of children in countries which do better in terms of educational outcomes than the UK survive without it.

[imwithspud]

Yabu , girls wearing trousers as uniform look really scruffy. I would associate them with a under achieving comp.

Umm okay, so do boys wearing trousers look scruffy too? How ridiculous.

I think if schools require uniform then they need to be practical. What's wrong with a simple plain polo shirt, jumper and plain joggers or something? Better yet scrap uniform altogether and just have a general dress code.

[HamaTime]

I think they should wear jeans and a sweatshirt. Everyone has jeans, they come in a vast array of sizes to fit people and most people can find something that is comfortable and flattering. I'm baffled by the no jean style trousers and no skinny trousers rules. They may as well have a nothing that makes you look half decent rule. Schools seem to attach a virtue to looking 15 years out of date.