6ft tall 12 year old DD getting skirt length violations

[TooTallDD]

I’m really annoyed about this and I am one who is normally in favour of strict uniform rules.

DD is 12 and at a Catholic school in Australia that supplies uniforms from its own school shop. DD is a 6 ft tall beanpole and wears her correct size which is the second smallest size available. The skirt is pleated and tartan with only a couple of millimetres in hemline. She has just received her second uniform violation as her skirt sits just above the knee when it is meant to be knee length. DD is always in the full correct uniform and never gets into any trouble.

I am thinking of emailing the school and putting it back on them- DD is wearing the correct uniform skirt from the school’s uniform shop, she does not shorten it in any way and if the school has an issue, the school needs to take it up with their uniform supplier and ask them to supply skirts for tall girls or at least add some hemline material that can be let down. (Although the pleats would make this challenging)

Is this a good approach? I’m ropable because in 1992 shy, quiet 6 ft tall me was hauled in front of a school assembly for a skirt length dressing down when I was also wearing the school skirt that had been fully let down. My mum sorted that with a phone call and I want to sort this for DD.

Before you go to the school, are you certain your daughter isn't rolling her skirt up? My daughter wears a similar sounding skirt and they all roll them up really short. Somehow she seems to have managed to get away without any uniform violations.

If they are really complaining it's short due to her height then I would definitely raise it with the school.

Of course you should raise it with the school!

Are the teachers hard of understanding there? Does your DD not say “I’m wearing the correct skirt!”

signed
Mother of an exceptionally tall dd at that age.

@Rowgtfc72 Arco in the UK do womens work clothes too. Might be worth a look.

Why does the fact it's an all girls school mean there isn't an option to wear trousers?

They do have trousers! Hardly any girls wear them as we are in the tropics and it would be stinking hot. The boys at their brother school wear shorts due to the heat. DD wouldn’t anyway because they would come halfway down her calves and would look silly.

Absolutely certain. She is gauche and young for her age and this would never occur to her. Plus the skirt is just above the knee- I see it every day.

Definitely a school and supplier issue. I would ask school for what they consider an acceptable solution and let them know the problem may resolve when she goes up a size. I has this with skirts and shoes for my 2 girls who are both tall. My oldest is 6'3" and finished growing at age 13.
School had a no trainers rule and both had size 10 feet. School agreed to plain black leather trainers once I explained the issue.

Point out that the waist measurement is correct and any larger would result in her skirt being too loose.

@TheSandgroper I have a sil in aus, may be useful. It was exciting enough to click on a womens section!
@Needspaceforlego will check out Arco thanks. She's surviving on one pair from b and q that almost fit. Only womens pants we've found that aren't silly money.

This sounds like my school - I was there in the 70’s! I thought Australian schools were meant to be all bastions of liberalness these days, what with Australia believing boys can now be girls.

Not the point of the thread but I can't believe girls are still made to wear skirts. None of this would be needed if the uniform was trousers. Much more practical, warm and comfortable.

yes - I grew up thinking I had to accept any kind of injustice and had a catastrophic mental breakdown

Absolutely agree with above poster who said email and place ball int heir court.

Dear Xxxxx,

Ot has come to light DD has had punishment uniform isolations.

As she wears the school issued uniform in the correct size I’m sure this has been a mistake on your staffs behalf.

Please let me know how you are doing ensure this doesn’t happen again.

thanks

xxxx

Of they come back and say her skirt was too short you can go back with “my dd wears the correct uniform skirting the correct size. Are you informing me you’re punishing her for her height?”

I find the best way to win an argument you should t be having in the first place is to not give the other side something to fight against - but rather make them categorically state they are being idiots and have no actual solution to their invented problem!

Where the Op lives i don't think warmth is a concern.
But trousers would also be an issue and look silly if they aren't long enough.

Buy bigger skirt and have it taken in. I always had to have this done for skirts

So they don't have winters in Australia? Strange..... And I am sure you are aware that skirt length rules are about modesty not looking 'silly' so of course it wouldn't apply to trousers (which don't look silly short anyway).

Average mid-winter daytime temp where I live is about 29 degrees C. It was 38 earlier this week. So trousers are not a thing for school kids!

And as a 6 ft 1 woman, I can assure you trousers do not look good on me, unless ordered from specialty tall stores.

At my Australian girls' school it was very much about appearances as well as so-called "modesty".

Not just regulation length skirts but thickness and exact shade of tights (40 dernier), hair ribbons, brand of white shirt so that they all had the same collars and cuffs... judging from my nieces not a lot has changed. Short trousers definitely wouldn't be tolerated (even if sensible in FNQ/NT which sounds like where OP is.)

Fair enough. So does no one ever wear trousers? Is it shorts for men all year round? If so I amend my answer to shorts for girls too. The whole skirt length thing is very outdated. But I appreciate it's not the point of the thread.

My dd is almost 6ft now like me, luckily her school has the common sense to factor individual height into the school skirt length rules! Sorry op, that’s so daft they can’t see this v obvious link to height and a standard school skirt length!

If she’s definitely not rolling up her skirt I’d be straight on the phone / email to school about this, and if they suggest you buy a bigger size to add some extra length it won’t help a lot unless it’s massive and falling down around her hips. Perhaps the school would like to fund a seamstress to create a bespoke skirt? Or add a longer length skirt option at the supplier? Or just use their common sense and stop hassling your dd!

Totally ridiculous

I would be asking the school what you expect your dd to do given that she is wearing the correct skirt for her size from the approved supplier and is not riding it up

some people are just stupid

This.

Yeah agree. Australian girls' schools are fussy and anal about the appearance of uniforms down to the shade of permissible hair ribbon, shade of white for socks, model of shoe. My school used to dictate what bras you could wear as girls started wearing colourful ones just to try to have a little bit of strap showing a spark of individuality somewhere. Huge no.

My kids were at schools in the UK and they just were not a tenth as obsessed with smartness, absolute correctness of minutiae and, well, uniformity.

In Australia in the tropical zone?

Not at this time of year. And yes, some parts don't have winter or certainly not how we experience winter in the UK.