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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu? This sixth form shouldn't have a uniform.

122 replies

KindergartenKop · 27/08/2021 21:07

I'm rewatching all of Waterloo Road on iPlayer. It astounds me that, despite lax rules about ties, skirts and hoodies, the sixth form still have to wear the same uniform to as the rest of the kids.

IWRBU (is Waterloo Road being unreasonable) in making these 16-18yos wear uniform? Do you know of any sixth forms which make the kids wear uniform? I don't mean top man smart suits and a tie, I mean proper school uniform.

OP posts:
plodalong12 · 27/08/2021 21:41

There wasn’t a uniform for sixth form at my (English) school when I was left (early 00’s) but I don’t know about now…

PwySyddYma · 27/08/2021 21:43

Wales here.

All sixth forms attached to a school in my area have a uniform but it is slightly different to the younger years.

Think different colour polo shirts/shirt and tie and different colour jumpers/blazers. But same school logo, same black trousers black school shoes rule.

If you go to a sixth form college though it's casual dress. No uniform.

plodalong12 · 27/08/2021 21:44

@plodalong12

There wasn’t a uniform for sixth form at my (English) school when I was left (early 00’s) but I don’t know about now…
Replying to my own post but I had a quick glance on my old schools website and it seems like now, yes they do have to wear a uniform in the sixth form, with a different tie and blazer to differentiate them.
Ponoka7 · 27/08/2021 21:48

In 2006, when WR started, our local comps 6th form were moving back towards uniforms. I think that it was as much about identification as anything else. You couldn't enter the school, unless wearing uniform. When Rhys Jones was killed and more teens were involved in serious crime, it became even more important.

TartanJumper · 27/08/2021 21:48

The inbetweeners did too!

Ours don't- but I would have liked it when I was in sixth form, as there was a lot of judging if people didn't have loads of posh clothes!

Dixiechickonhols · 27/08/2021 21:49

Yes one DD will go to does. It’s in separate building to main school and uniform is a different colour. No blazer just black skirt or trousers, white shirt and tie plus jumper/cardigan. State grammar school. No other sixth forms nearby other option is college and own clothes.

Larryyourwaiter · 27/08/2021 21:51

NE too. Daughters school is ‘business dress’ but they just seem to wear jeans etc. Another local school has a uniform. However it’s not doing their numbers any good apparently.

RandomMess · 27/08/2021 21:52

I would rather school uniform than "business wear" 🙄 it would be cheaper for a start!

A different local 6th form they can wear what they want within reason much more sensible.

TartanJumper · 27/08/2021 21:53

Replying to my own post but I had a quick glance on my old schools website and it seems like now, yes they do have to wear a uniform in the sixth form, with a different tie and blazer to differentiate them.

Just checked my old school- no uniform, but very strict dress code compared to when I was there! No sports wear/jeans/hoodies/trainers/leggings/shorts/skirts above knee etc. How things change !

icedcoffees · 27/08/2021 21:54

I wore a uniform right through school - ages 2-18. That was private school though.

Mogloveseggs · 27/08/2021 21:55

Dds school has a sixth form uniform. That's why she's going to college Grin

H1Drangea · 27/08/2021 21:55

Yep , my DC school had 6th form uniform ,
They have different ties , different logo on the jumper and white shirts / blouses instead of blue
Still black jumpers and trousers or skirts ( everything available in M&S or Tesco except the jumper and tie )

JazzerMcCreary · 27/08/2021 21:59

Tbh uniform is probably cheaper and easier than office wear and suits. I don’t even know that many people who actually wear suits or smart office clothing anymore. The whole concept of an ultra smart uniform and dressing teenagers up as bankers is such a weird anachronism.

BoredZelda · 27/08/2021 21:59

I don’t know any schools where there’s a uniform difference, except maybe a different tie in S6.

Our upper school 4-6 wear a braided blazer and 6th form wear a different tie. It would be strange to see the younger kids in uniform and the older ones not.

Hankunamatata · 27/08/2021 22:01

All 6th forms here in Ni have uniforms. Usually different colour blazer

MadameMinimes · 27/08/2021 22:02

It is weird, I agree. Sixth formers round here don’t wear uniform. I think they have to do it to differentiate between the 25 year olds playing the sixth formers and the 25 year olds playing the teachers though. Grin

PigletJohn · 27/08/2021 22:03

That's one of the bad effects of putting young adults in a "school"

round here they go to college for A levels and other "vocational" stuff. Except at the religious based school which is very controlling.

I think they are supposed to wear business dress but some of it is rather unconvincing.

In my day we mostly wore the school uniform of black trousers, grey jacket (no badge), white shirt in 6th form, which was OK, or allowed to wear a grey suit. The rules slackened to include other dark suits. We did not look like schoolboys.

Nat6999 · 27/08/2021 22:04

Ds school don't wear uniform in sixth form, nearest school over county boundary wear business dress for sixth form. Surely one of the privileges of being a sixth former is not wearing uniform?

Rockhopper81 · 27/08/2021 22:06

I left sixth form in 1999, and we didn't have a uniform, we just wore casual clothing (including jeans and trainers!), but nobody wore anything particularly 'out there', mostly t-shirts/shirts and jeans really. It was considered a pretty good school at the time - offered the International Baccalaureate instead of A-Levels, which it was one of only a few schools in the UK to do at the time, so clearly the lack of a dress code didn't do us any harm!

Just had a look on the website - although the school has academised and changed names now - and it has the whole 'business attire' dress code for sixth form, and the suit has to be the same colour as the trouser requirements for the rest of the school anyway (including wearing white shirts only), so just call it a uniform!!

I agree though, it's ridiculous to have this 'business attire' dress code given people don't wear suits as much in offices anymore, and University students wear whatever is to hand and is hopefully clean!

VaccineSticker · 27/08/2021 22:08

All local 6th forms wear uniform here.
Not sure why you dislike uniform. A pretty big amount of jobs in this country require uniforms or a certain formal dress code to wear to work. Schools aren’t any diff.

VeryQuaintIrene · 27/08/2021 22:08

Fascinating - I'd no idea any 6th formers still had to wear uniform. At my moderately posh girls' school it was a point of honour to find and wear to school the mankiest, full of holes sweater long ago rejected by our dads and no one ever complained.

DappledThings · 27/08/2021 22:09

Mine didn't but I wished it did. It had been a 11-16 school for years and the year I went into year 11 was the first year the 6th Form opened. They decided to go no uniform at all.

Most of us missed it and would have preferred it to having to pick clothes.

I find it weird when 6th Forms that are part of schools don't just continue the same uniform throughout. We live in Kent now and I've just had a look at a couple of the grammars nearby that DC might end up going to. Had assumed they they have uniform throughout but they do seem to go to own clothes after Yr 11. Am surprised (and a tad disappointed)

daisypond · 27/08/2021 22:10

Yes, my school has school uniform all the way through - state comprehensive in Yorkshire.

KingdomScrolls · 27/08/2021 22:10

School sixth forms here wear uniform, usually a different tie. Sixth form colleges don't.

Ozberry · 27/08/2021 22:10

What even is business dress? As a professional woman I think it’s pretty outdated.
We don’t really have 6th forms here. It’s straight to college where anything goes, bar drugs logos and blasphemous T-shirts.

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