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.

As we say in Scotland "Goanyersel!"

Well done OP! Proud of you! Not meant to be patronising - I was born and brought up in Fife and had a horrible experience when Mum took me to buy my school uniform. I was left in no doubt that I was an oddity...

I even had difficulty getting school shoes. I was only a size 6, but that was deemed oversized. I recall nearly being in tears when one shop assistant said "Well, if this doesn't fit, the only things left are the boxes!"

One of my nicknames at high school was "Giraffe". In the end, Mum gave me permission to retort with "Shortarse!"

(I couldn't even hire a wedding dress when I was organising my wedding - they only went up to 5ft 8. I recall one woman trying to persuade me that I'd be fine with flat shoes and white tights... Yes, I did have my dress made to measure instead of hiring.)

[ETA As I said previously, we gave up with buying school skirts, but I was able to source long enough skirts from shops outside our town since only the colour was specified.]

That email is perfect, in my view. FWIW, I was a middle manager in a Scottish high school for some years.

I recall one time that a boy was sent home for wearing jeans instead of school trousers. He was back at school within the hour with a brief letter from his dad which included "My son is at school to be educated, not looked at."

Update 2.

DD’s home form teacher rang me. She has raised my email with the leadership team and made it clear to me that DD does not need to worry about getting skirt length violations again and her 2 so far will be wiped. I got the sense she was annoyed at the 2 teachers who coded DD but she didn’t come out and say so directly. All very professional.

She said that the leadership team would discuss it further in their next meeting to see if there is any solution, but in the meantime, DD’s skirt length won’t be an issue.

So wind out of my sails and off my high horse. I suspect I will never hear anything again- DD will continue as is and in 12-18 months she will be in the skirt with the spare hem which I will dutifully have taken down.

MN will be pleased to know I immediately emailed the home form teacher with an “as per our phone call, I confirm xxxxxx”.

Thank you for everyone’s good advice. I am no longer ropable. 😀

Well done. I am annoyed for you and your daughter.

Very well done @TooTallDD .

I would ask your uniform shop manager if she would like the P&F to weigh in with a letter to the supplier. You could attend the next meeting and raise it. Or she could ask the P&F herself for a letter of support.

It seems to me that the word “profiteering” isn’t out of place here. Whoever (and I include DD’s teachers here) has heard of a uniform supplier in Australia not including a decent hem? No one, that’s who.

Great result!

I am sure it means a lot to your DD that you are in her corner.

Well done OP!

An excellent outcome, OP!

Nevertheless, it's atrocious that you had to do all that chasing up. Well done!

Your comment about the hem is valid.

When I was 11, my mum paid for a made-to-measure kilt for me. Kilts are not normally made with hems - normally the bottom edge is is a selvage - but this one was so that the hem could be let down by Mum at a later date.

That's exactly what happened - Mum let out one of the pleats and took down the hem and the kilt was perfect.

Kids kilts have hems for that exact reason. Kilts are pricey and people want them to last.

@TooTallDD well done. There was nothing petty about your email. You stated a fact you had the same issue as a child. And we are 20? years on and nothings changed.

DD will be glad you stood up for her, just the same as you haven't forgotten your Mum standing up for you.

Just being curious (nosy) is your Mum also very tall? Did she have issues in school too?

Mum is 5 ft 10 so very tall for her era. I don’t think she has any issues with her school uniform- it was calf length in a very cold part of Australia. She has always complained about her boarding school beds though- they had a foot board and she could never lay fully straight.

I had the same problem with the bed in our our old Mazda Bongo. DH fitted; I didn't. [ETA No foot board - my ankles dangled over the edge.]

You need to grow up, op!
You say yourself you want to be bolshy, how do you think this is going to affect your dd's attitude at school?
I am sure you are smart enough to know the answer is that you buy a skirt in the correct length and get it taken in!

Read the thread. There isn't one.

Or you could actually read the OP’s posts before spouting irrelevant nonsense.

I was a bolshy parent at Australian Catholic schools. DC coped rather well, actually, as did the teachers and other staff.

As a retired Scottish high school teacher, I always recommend that parents should be bolshy. Much better than being a pushover.

Taking in a pleated skirt is easier said than done.
And thats before you consider the fact the next couple of sizes up aren't any longer.

You take it to someone who can. Clothing alterations are not tgst expensive!

Just googled my nearest seamstress and they charge from £19.95 to alter a waist on a skirt😯 That's quite a lot!

Why should Op basically have to pay to get a skirt completely remade?
The Taylor would need to alter all the pleats to make it look right.
I was thinking that was the case before the Op came back and said the uniform shop said the same thing.

Thats just altering the waist, that's not faffing with all the pleats too.

There's a reason we all buy mass produced clothing, hand made would be wild

If Op could get a hold of the fabric it would probably be easier and cheaper to get one made from scratch. Than to try and alter one

I'm in the UK and I assure you, I am fully conversant with both expressions. 😀

I'm in the UK and had to look up ropable and have just looked up 'fit to be tied' as well.