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.

[OasisOrBlur]

I like uniforms for school; as long as they're affordable, I think they're great. My dd would take ages to decide what to wear everyday if there was a free choice in the matter.

I've no problem with skirts either in theory. My problem is that my teen dd is very tall I simply cannot find a school skirt anywhere that doesn't come up too short on her.

It makes me cross that manufacturers are not in on to this. She is tall, but a lot of teens are these days. If it was a reasonable length in the first place and she chose to hoik it up then she'd take her chances with being told off at school and I'd say tough, you know the rules.

But her skirts aren't as long as they could be and its not for the lack of trying to find one that is. Believe me, no matter how much she rolled her eyes, if I could find a longer one I'd make her wear it.

[BigSandyBalls2015]

At DDs school girls can wear trousers or skirts ....... however, if they choose to wear a skirt they have to wear an open neck white shirt, and if they wear trousers they must have a buttoned up collared shirt with a tie.

Teachers get very arsey about it and DD has been sent home to change when she dared to wear a buttoned shirt with a skirt! Crazy!

They've recently had a crack down on 'secret socks'. DDs school shoes have stretched a bit so she's been wearing black tights and tiny black secret socks that you'd be hard pressed to see unless you studied her feet carefully. Her form tutor has been raging and forces DD to remove them.

1 more year and we will be away from this madness. This is a standard London high school.

[Stanky]

It is madness. It's a shame that the rules are so complicated for the girls. I remember the rules on skirts, heels, make up and jewellery. Things seem to be a lot simpler for the boy's. They don't seem to have so many social pressures and expectations.

[Nataleejah]

Oh, but boys' hair... Too long is a problem, too short a problem too. Too fashionable haircut is against the law.

[Stanky]

True Nataleejah.

[Ellybellyboo]

School uniform causes so much angst in my DD's high school.

Trousers are allowed, but last year school decided that trousers had to be a minimum width and had to be the same width at the knee as they were at the ankle. Cue me spending far more time than I would have liked traipsing round BHS and M&S with a tape measure.

I'm not suggesting they allow jeans or skinnies, but the world isn't going to end if they allow something a tiny bit fashionable. All my daughter's brains aren't going to fall out of her head if her trousers are slightly narrower at the ankle than they are at the knee.

Rolling your blazer sleeves up is not allowed, and last summer the school even sent out staff to make sure students weren't removing their blazers on their way home

DD was given a after school detention on Friday for wearing her PE skort under her school skirt. I'm interested to find out how the teacher knew she was wearing it as there's no way of knowing by just looking at her

It drives me insane. I like uniform on the whole, but not when it's applied like this

[Nataleejah]

Thats insane. Certainly that school has enough staff and energy to do such nonsense. Honestly, if a school has such ridiculous policies, i would really doubt the quality of actual teaching there

[echt]

Thats insane. Certainly that school has enough staff and energy to do such nonsense. Honestly, if a school has such ridiculous policies, i would really doubt the quality of actual teaching there

I would be amazed if any teaching staff are consulted at all. They don't get to devise these rules, it's all governors and parents' opinions. If you are suggesting the quality of teaching is affected: probably, while they are obliged to enforce the rules every lesson.

I teach in Au, where uniforms are mostly Chalet-school style ridiculous but the level of conformity is staggering. Larrikins? I don't think so.

To get back to the OP, at my school, knee-length shorts are allowed all year for both sexes and are very much favoured, though mostly by boys, even in the trying Victorian winters. Most girls who wear trousers favour the full length.

[BillBrysonsBeard]

Elly We used to have teachers driving around checking we hadn't taken blazers off in summer too. I'm sure they didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have been a good enforcer! School image was more important than not cooking to death. Who sees loads of kids without their blazers on and thinks "right, I'm not sending my child there!"
They were big heavy things too. Thankfully our route home was mainly ginnels..

[VestalVirgin]

They force girls to wear skirts?

This is sexist and should not be legal, and I can only recommend that you look for a better school.

So what exactly is wrong with short skirts? Are you saying the girls are at fault? The feminists will have a field day.

This feminist is having a field day with all those people here who think I cannot see through their thinly veiled/ naked sexism.

Like this "gem":

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

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Brexit. Go, and vote for the Brexit, I beg you. I do not want to be associated with a country as uncivilised, backwards and sexist as the UK.

[VestalVirgin]

DD was given a after school detention on Friday for wearing her PE skort under her school skirt. I'm interested to find out how the teacher knew she was wearing it as there's no way of knowing by just looking at her

Yeah, this obsession with forcing girls to show as much leg as possible smacks of pedophilia.
Like you say, how do they know? Did they lift her skirt?

This is insane.

[OddBoots]

DD's school has been straight legged trousers for all for the past few years and it has worked well as far as I can tell. 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.

[Medusacascade]

I hate school uniform with a passion. My ds also has ASD and quite severe sensory processing difficulties. The uniforms affects his ability to get on with his school day but putting in OT recommended reasonable adjustments with the school and uniform has been a nightmare. And this is a bog standard primary school.

I'm dreading secondary school. I see people on here saying if you don't agree with a school's uniform policy don't send your child to that school. It's not that simple in Bristol. You get what you're given.

Wearing blazers all day? Polyester trousers, buttoned up school shirts and ties? We're fucked.

[Theoretician]

I saw this thread when it started and only read it because I wanted to find out what "smart trousers" were. By analogy with "smart watches" I thought the OP was talking about some sort of new-fangled invention, like for example my DD's "skirt" that has modesty shorts built in underneath.

It's only now that I've come across the the thread title again that I realise I was over-thinking it.

[gabsdot]

Here in Ireland a lot of schools give girls the option to wear trousers. Much warmer in the winter

[Welshmaenad]

This is why I love my DC's primary. They wear pretty much what they like. DD has CP and major sensory issues and I expected battles but they've been super accommodating. She wears jersey dresses over black leggings, and in the days she does sports club after school she wears black joggers. She also wears trainers to school instead of school shoes as we struggle to get smart shoes that fit over her splint. DS often wears grey or black joggers if he has after school sport.

The school provides a lot of equipment in the playground - a play castle, frames, tyres, firemans poles, an eco cob house for shade and quiet play - and the children are encouraged to dress for comfort so they can make the most of it.

Headmaster is very pro-kids and pro-play - has his head screwed on right, I may have raved about it a bit during the last Estyn inspection. I hear about draconian uniform policies in other schools and just go

[SenecaFalls]

there would be some kind of dress code and that would probably take more time than a simple uniform to enforce.

That depends on how strict the dress code is. My children attended schools with fairly liberal dress codes (things like no offensive slogans on t-shirts, etc) and there were seldom any issues with enforcement.

[Nataleejah]

We used to have teachers driving around checking we hadn't taken blazers off in summer too. I'm sure they didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have been a good enforcer!
I wonder why school communities don't revolt. This is bonkers.
School image - what sane parent would want send kids to such a madhouse?
I bet these are the schools which ban coats in winter.

[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.

[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.

[pointythings]

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

[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.

[WaitrosePigeon]

Are girls allowed to wear shorts at school?

[WaitrosePigeon]

During the summer that is..

[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.