AIBU to think the new sixth form outfit looks like something from "The Handmaid'sTale"

[joanjett]

I am surprised the school did not add a cloak and a "chastity bonnet"

Since uniform for both boys and girls is a smart suit and this skirt is simply an option if you don’t want to wear that, then no. Not sex discrimination. Unless a boy fancies the long skirt and isn’t allowed, then it would be.

Me too… we could choose anything in the school colours and I had a mixture of short and long.

This is definitely not handmaid’s tale… it’s very Edwardian/george V to me

£61.99 for the skirt and £79.99 for the blazer. Blimey!

https://shop.cliftoncollege.com/collections/sixth-form?sort_by=price-ascending

Missy in Dr Who

The dcs sixth form uniform was a business suit - they looked much smarter than the teachers, which is a bit weird imo. The school was part of a local consortium - they had all agreed on the same uniform rules - so much for choice!

It's a bit silly the lengths the schools go to on uniforms - I thought the obsession with uniform rules made the school look quite idiotic (I know other people think it's wonderful) - I'd rather they were obsessed with the quality of the teaching - which had some room for improvement - but I get it - it's easier to look like you are doing something when you focus on uniform.

It doesn’t look hugely practical in terms of skirt length.
i also think it would be an extra nightmare for anyone like me who is short in the leg. It looks like it would dragon the ground… poor parents then have to take up the wretched thing, or spend more ££££ having it altered.

Im imagining my 13yos face if i presented her with a long skirt for uniform. Or my 15yos face (she does wear the knee length kilt... 13yo wrars trousers)

I love a maxi skirt but they are always a light cotton. This polyester and wool skirt would trigger my sensory issues big time.

They can wear a trouser suit. The skirt is optional. So no worries about walking to school.

The other parents probably think ‘never mind, mine can wear a trouser suit instead, as per the uniform policy’.

Thought it might be a private school, as a ‘proper’ uniform for 6th form is unusual round here. My 6th form college attendee has gone in wearing a band t-shirt and trousers. Doesn’t seem to affect learning as they had 100% pass rate in A levels and BTECs this year.

But you can buy any suit from anywhere if you don’t want the skirt.

Their uniform guide is online here https://issuu.com/cliftoncollegeuk/docs/clifton_college_uniform_list_upper-26?fr=sOWU1ZTkxNjc4MTY (see last pages for the older students' uniform) and it mentions that the standard for male and female is a trouser suit, with the long skirt as an optional alternative. But this doesn't accord with the OP's understanding...

I find them quite adorable as well. But I would have hated those as a child!!🤣

Well, aren't you a delight?

You said
No trouser option
its this Amish outfit only

and my Googling came up with the fact that there are NO schools that only have this skirt as an option. Which turns out to be correct. The school you said had this policy allows trousers.

Please could you link to the place where it says this is the only unifrom option and shows this photo?

Also
Get better at checking your facts before spouting them as gospel.

The OP said trousers were not an option.

Yes, she was wrong. Multiple people have provided the actual official uniform policy for Clifton College sixth form.

I sort of like it. At my children's sixth form, it is business casual, which in practice means stripper outfits. I was the same when I was that age (low-cut top, short skirt, etc..), but I wonder if this uniform is made more modest for the girls to not have to think too much about looking fashionable/cool etc.. I would love it if my children had to wear something similar but I am guessing that they would not be too happy x

Or just do what 99% will do and buy their daughter a dark trousers suit of her free choice instead.

The skirt is only given as an alternative for those who don't want to wear a trouser suit. I expect it actually is for modesty - that they have had at least one girl in the past who was not even allowed to wear a trouser suit for modesty reasons, so they had to come up with something she could wear.

So you fibbed about trousers not being an option? Why?

You said there is no trouser option. You were wrong. The preferred uniform is a trouser suit. Your picture shows the alternative for those who don't want to wear a trouser suit. Once you named the school, it took less than 5 minutes to find that. See Upper School Uniform List – Clifton College and look at the "Year 12&13" section.

It's giving me 19th century riding habit vibes! Just need a jaunty little bowler hat to top it off!

When I was in sixth form in the late 80s we could wear own clothes - within a code fitting to the school - so only blouses, sweaters, long sleeved tops, and skirts (no trousers allowed) of knee length to mid calf. All had to fit the colour coding of green, cream and brown. We must have looked a dream! 😅

In Limerick (Ireland) they've worn really long skirts forever. It seems to impractical.

Cork then seems to have micro mini's

I'm from the midland just knee length for us.

DD was there for sixth form - the school provide the uniform for everyone and you hand it back when you leave. She loved all of it except the yellow socks which are wool and very itchy...

I have friends whose daughters went to a school with an ankle length winter skirt and they all loved it as you could wear what you liked underneath - usually PJ bottoms apparently.

😂😂