Summer dresses for secondary

[netherlee]

Yes, not the time of year but it is on the agenda for next Summer given how hot the last few have been. (not the school my name suggests before anyone goes looking) Trouble is it is hard finding styles of school dresses that suit girls, unlike the gingham type that younger girls wear at primary school. Has anyone ever seen a summer dress that looks suitable for more grown girls but keeping with school standards (colour, cut etc.). The uniform is very smart just now and though not compulsory they are encouraged to wear blazers as winter uniform, shirt and tie compulsory.

Judging by all the secondary school children round here you will be singling your DD out if you put her in a summer dress. They stop at primary.

Most of the girls I see are either in skin tight trousers or skirts hitched up.

At DS' school they all have to wear the blazer all the time unless the head gives special permission when it gets really hot.

At our school the winter uniform is shirt, tie, blazer, skirts for girls and trousers for boys.
In the summer term uniform is polo shirt and optional jumper. No blazers are worn during the summer term.

My school had summer dresses for secondary when I was there in the 1990s. They don't any more. You had to get the horrible sweaty polycotton things from the school's own shop.

At the time I was there, the girls were in favour of changing to a "Home and Away" / "neighbours" style dress. They now just have "summer blouses" with their normal skirts.

OP are you asking as a parent, or on behalf of the school?

Like this (Home and Away)

It is actually being considered by the school as there is some interest from girls, provided it is distinct from the primary type which I agree would look wrong on anyone over about 12 (DD is 14). They may have an official one (like the blazers) or give certain constraints on existing ones (like skirt length, shirt colour).

A local independent has summer skirts, rather than dresses, in a lightweight tana lawn.

In my day we had a regulation fabric that we made up ourselves into whatever dress style we liked (within reason!)

Summer and winter uniforms the same where we are. I don't think the girls would be seen dead in a summer dress.

DCs school has a house polo shirt which can be worn instead of shirt and tie after half-term in the summer. They are quite good quality and actually look reasonably smart, and much smarter than other schools which relax uniform rules when temperatures are excessive.

Unless it is official uniform and all the girls are wearing it I think you'd struggle with this.

DS (I know, not a girl :o) swaps to short sleeved shirts in the summer.

I don't think that the idea of dresses is too far off base. Think Fearne Cotton. Think festival-goers: if they are not wearing too-short-shorts then they are wearing dresses. My DD spends her life in cute-sy, ditsy tea dresses.

To differentiate from Primary (stiff cotton, on the waist) you want either a more grown-up fabric with movement (like the tana lawn) or to move the waist (drop waist or empire). If you can find them, that is!

Are you ready for some smart-alec boy demanding the right to wear dresses?

As a plump, shy teenager I used to watch Home and Away and Neighbours and thank my lucky stars I went to school in damp south Wales and was therefore jot subjected to the shame of wearing such a skimpy uniform.

Nooooo!!! Just Nooo!!!!

Think of the hug range of shapes and sizes at secondary and the fact all but those with model figures would look either sack like or pornstar esque, and thinking how short a summer dress would be on some......

One of the local independents has their own summer dresses at huge expense in "their" special print and style- supposedly knee length and it is worn short as anything with a belt and jumper over even in the heat by the older kids.

Even in year 6 at primary noone wore dresses when my now 12yr old was there (inlike when the 18yr old was there 6yrs before, when everyone did and we struggled as DD was in age 14 dresses then!)

As an old git who went to a school which had summer dresses (any style, set colour, like another poster) can I sound a note of caution?

Secondary girls are still coming to terms with managing their periods. Most will get taken by surprise by timing or heaviness.

If a school summer dress has a pale coloured skirt, then even a really minor leak shows. You then have the choice of continuing to wear or going home to change. It's mortifying. And that was in a usually friendly all-girls school.

Please, please do not go for pale colours.

And it's difficult to find a single style that would look good on all all figure types, from the busty to the plump all over to the skinny to the pear. The only shape which isn't hostile is the traditional shirt-waister, but I doubt that would be considered anything other than impossibly frumpy - especially if in a period-proof dark colour.

Where have there been these hot summers for the last few years?

What is wrong with a skirt and blouse (you know, the ones with rounded collar rather than stiff) with no tie for the summer?

In australia they wear those summer dresses until they are 18. They have vent pleats in the back do they do fit all the shapes of girls. There are lots and lots of styles and even more fabrics. Some of them are lovely. You could google Australian schoolwear manufacturers.

We had the choice of buying summer dresses or buying fabric from John Lewis to make our own (independent school) My Mum made me some rather nice dresses, very plain shift ones and iirc I wore them up until Yr 9. No one wore summer dresses once we started O'Levels

DD's school has a summer dress for school. It is very very old fashioned and the further up the school the girls get, the less they wear it. DD is in y9 and I think will prefer a short-sleeved blouse from now on.

Like a couple of other posters we bought the material from the school shop and our mothers or a local lady had to make it up to a pattern of our choice. Mine were simple, revere collar, straight dress, one pleat at the front and a zip at the front too because it was easier than button holes!