Primary uniform for v tall girl

[L3andlosingit]

Please help.

My DD is 10 years old. She’s in year 5. She’s 5ft 2. She has a 33in waist. She wears adult size 10. Like me, she she has a straight up and down shape (no waist) so often has to go up a size anyway. She’s got a year of primary to go and I’m already despairing about the lack of options for her next year. She’s currently wearing age 13/14.

Like every child, she wants to fit it. That means pinafore dresses and jersey trousers in the winter and gingham dresses in the summer. They don’t come in her next size anywhere I look. Any suggestions?

A ten year old should not have a 33inch waist under any circumstances OP. I'm not saying that to be unkind but it's not healthy.

In Yr6 a lot of them chose the more "grown up" uniform choices anyway... not one girl in DDs year wore a summer dress this year for example. It was all skirts and blouses and plain cardigans. (With tights for a lot of them, even this term! )

I don't know a single Y5 girl that wears a pinafore dress or a gingham dress anymore - they mostly wear school skirts, with a few choosing shorts or trousers instead, all of which go right up to older teen sizes. Presumably skirts are an option at her school?

Following with interest - I have a very tall girl in year 3 - starting Year 4 in September and she's already in 11/12 size dresses and skirts so I understand your frustration.

I don't think the jersey trousers would be an issue as you might find alternatives in most shops - especially if she can wear black? Is she really keen on the pinafore dresses or could she be persuaded to wear a school skirt and top? What are the rules in her school - is it an aertex type shirt or a 'proper' shirt?

Tu at Sainsbury's does a wide fit gingham. All of our y6s still wear the dresses. There's some interesting looks going on at the moment where they are all growing out of them but understandably parents aren't buying new uniform with a week to go.

A 33 inch waist though is very big, almost a 16? That's going to be difficult to source.

Did you mean a 23 inch waist rather than 33 inch?
33in waist is definitely bigger than a size 10.

My oldest DD went to middle school so had the gingham dresses from marks and Spencer until she was actually 14 (and 5’8) and they make them up to that age. The gingham style dresses are notoriously massive around the waist on young kids anyway hence needing the belts.

for everything else, if she’s needing adult sizes, then get adult sizes, basics like black trousers, white shirts you can find anywhere. We have found better tailoring in the adult ranges, once they can fit them in length. Jersey trousers just fall straight down on tall kids!

try outdoors shops too for dark coloured hard wearing basics. Surprisingly they often have pinafore dresses. Being fair though the basics you list are really size fluid, and will fit a fair range of size. Having had a few kids of different sizes they often ended up mixed up and wearing each others and I’d only find out when they took them off that the 11 year old was wearing a 6-7 polo shirt or the 8 year old was wearing a 11-12 gingham dress. Once they are cinched in with the belts or the drop waists there is a lot of growing room and flex.

John Lewis school gingham dresses in a variety of colours go up to age 16.

A 33inch waist would put an adult women in the increased health risk category.

People not being helpful having a dig at sizes 🙄

My daughter was tall & slim, always struggled to get trousers to fit. Try Sainsbury's or M&S 🙂

33 inch waist at age 10 or is that a typo? If it’s not, I’d be trying to keep her weight at least stable, for her health, then she can wear the same size as this year.

Try schoolblazer.com - find a school on there with similar uniform to yours and order a bespoke size.

DD is 5ft7 and in Y6. She and her classmates stopped wearing summer pinafore dresses this year; others stopped in Y5 - tbh they look a bit ridiculous on older girls.
She's still wearing 'winter uniform' of white shirt and grey pleated skirt. I bought an extra long skirt online at M&S which comes down to her knees.

Marks and spencers does up to 15-16 and 17-18 or even 41" in some ranges. You'll definitely get skirts, trousers etc in there. Pinafore dresses maybe not and I doubt gingham ones.

www.listers-schoolwear.co.uk/products/miss-chief-girls-school-gingham-summer-dress-age-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-20-pleated-sky-blue

Might be your answer... they have school dresses up to 'aged20' whatever the heck that actually means!

M&S and JL do the gingham up to an age 16. For the winter uniform do a skirt instead, I didn’t think pinafores even came in sizes above infants.

M&s for tall they do extra long in trousers which even with my two that are in 99.98 height centile are too long.

This. Do people imagine that people are not aware when their children have weight issues or not, or that these children should be made to feel uncomfortable at school while those issues are being addressed?

Like the OP, I have a daughter about the same age who is very tall (5'4") and has a solid build to begin with, plus has hit puberty early. She also has ASD and has suffered a great deal over lockdown with her mental health, and has issues with food which we are trying to help her sort out while at the same time doing our best to avoid triggering more serious eating disorders.

I find it very upsetting to see this kind of judgement from other parents, to be honest. I'm sure we are judged on the street IRL too but I pray she doesn't pick up on it as she feels awkward enough in herself as it is. I'm sure I would have been right there with the judgy crowd before having kids, as I've always been fairly active and careful to eat healthily. Now I know better, and that it just isn't always the case that parents are stuffing MacDonald's Happy Meals down their kids' throats like Strasbourg geese...

Are you sure she still wants pinafores, gingham dresses and jersey trousers? Most girls ditch them well before year 6 where we are. Asda do longer lengths in skirts etc and gingham dresses in large sizes are normally found on the sale rail in the summer holidays as they aren’t popular with older primary girls. M&S outlet had a rail of them for £1 last time I was in.

If looking for gingham dresses, have a look on amazon, or go into a proper uniform shop, they might have stuff in.
DD would get her dresses from amazon y5 and y6, she was 5"6 before she left y6.

When she goes to upper school it'll be easier, the schools usually have a retailer they'll use, and you'll be able to get everything in all the sizes.
DDs levelled out at 5"10 Ish, the company her school uses have sizes which are too big for her.

Thanks for all the genuinely helpful comments. Especially for where to source non standard sizes. Her school definitely still likes the pinafore and gingham styles in year 6. Plus my DD is one of the youngest in her year. Despite puberty hitting about 12/18 months ago she’s very much a little girl and wants to dress like the others.

Life is hard when you’re almost a foot taller and almost a year younger than many of your friends.

All the posters commenting on her size. My real answer can’t be posted. But in polite terms, mind your own business. You don’t know me or my family. I had a boy on the 7th percentile at birth due to prematurity and fretted until I noticed he ate like a horse. My daughter was the opposite. On the 99th percentile from birth and eats perfectly normally. Both have stayed pretty much the way they were at birth. Always in proportion. I have no concerns and neither does her doctor. So keep your ‘well-meaning’ comments to yourself. They were not asked for.

Finally, I hope the meanies don’t pass their outdated sizest attitudes to their kids. As medicine is discovering, female health is about a lot more than a BMI based on a male adult body.

I don’t think the comments are mean, they’re just pointing out that it’s not healthy unfortunately. I don’t believe a doctor wouldn’t be concerned about a child that, at 5’2” has a 33” waist. It’s really not in proportion no matter how much you say it is. If you post on a public forum, people will comment on various things, not just the thing you want them to.

I have a 33" waist and am a size 14 and that's at 5'7 🤷‍♀️ I'm 2 stone overweight

Whether the weight 'advice' is factual or not is besides the point. The post is asking for clothing advice. It's not that hard to stick to the topic & keep unsolicited advice to yourself 🤣

My daughter (12) has always been tall & using BMI is in the higher side of average/normal. In reality she is 5ft 5 & wears a size 8 ladies. She's active & eats a variety of food. We focus on healthy eating, activity & well being rather than weight. Weight/sizing isn't everything.

OP hope you manage to find some clothes to suit 🙂

OP didn't ask for health advice

But it’s the nature of forums. If you want less opinions, write less detail. And if you state that a 33”waist is a size 10, people are likely to say it’s not true.