Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Suits for 6th form

61 replies

MichelleC69 · 29/07/2019 18:07

Have spent my day off work shopping with DD16 for suits for her new 6th form college (I know.....ridiculous that they can't just wear jeans FFS!) and after 4 hours in town we have one suit.....there's nothing but sale crap in the shops! We did all the usual chain shops - Next, M&S, H&M, New Look, Primark.....etc etc. Got the one suit we have in Next. Panicking that I'm running out of time to get her sorted for the new term as she goes on holiday with her dad for 2.5 weeks in a couple of days. Any good online ideas from anyone please? Also need shirts/blouses.

OP posts:
AChickenCalledDaal · 30/07/2019 08:49

I would mail order a duplicate of the suit you already have. Maybe in a different colour if it exists. And then wait and see how things go in September. You don't need to buy a year's worth all at once.

Shirts are surely available from Next online?

Leakinglikeacolander · 30/07/2019 08:57

It's not like you can shove them in the washing machine at the end of the week either, I don't know the smallest number we can get away with.

ImportantWater · 30/07/2019 08:58

Our local grammar does this. The sixth formers all look like estate agents.

ImportantWater · 30/07/2019 08:59

Apart from the cooler ones who carry off a kind of mod look.

matahairyy · 30/07/2019 09:00

Next is your mate. Buy machine washable. Plus they won’t wear the jacket much.

stucknoue · 30/07/2019 09:06

Debenhams is your best bet, but because she needed a back up we just bought black trousers from asda (£6) and a £10 H&M jacket, I bought a other pair of the cheap trousers later and these did her for 2 years and university interviews

Original poster
MichelleC69 · 30/07/2019 09:10

I reckon two suits is enough. Machine washable trousers. Am not forking out for dry cleaning every week!

OP posts:
SoundofSilence · 30/07/2019 09:21

Our school does this too. Full suit and tie and taken out of class if you don't comply. It infuriates me because DS1 cycled to school most of the time before that and just got the school bus in bad weather. He tried it for a few days in a suit but stopped because it was so impractical and made him sweaty. I therefore get to shell out £750 for a year's bus travel, plus dry cleaning bills.

notso · 30/07/2019 09:23

What is it with schools and horrific uniform policies?
DS1's school has just changed their uniform I have to fork out for a blazer, new jumpers and a new tie. He's in his last year, what a ridiculous waste of money.

Sparklingbrook · 30/07/2019 09:47

Ds1 (School 6th Form) stated 'Business Wear' so he just went in shirt, tie and trousers, never bothered with a jacket.

DS2 (Different school 6th Form) it's joggers and hoodies everywhere.

RottnestFerry · 30/07/2019 09:58

I therefore get to shell out £750 for a year's bus travel, plus dry cleaning bills

Can't he change when he gets there? That seems to be the norm when cycling to work.

landscapingtrees · 31/07/2019 18:34

I'm a bit gobsmacked at this!

I thought sixth-formers everywhere could wear their own clothes. thats what made it so cool to all the year 7,8,9,10,11s

I'm a very straight laced uniform type person I might add. All the threads moaning about the price of school uniforms I feel like screaming TRY PAYING FOR ALL THE FASHION COMPETITION CLOTHES INSTEAD THEN YOU TIGHT-ARSED IDIOT!

But sixth formers wearing uniforms, the most bizarre thing I've heard this year ...

Mehmehmeh19 · 31/07/2019 18:38

I'd just get the one to going on with, different blazer and tops maybe?
See how enforced the rule is? Get some more lined up just in case.

Dd just finished 6th form, has friends in various schools locally and non of them I've seen in suits.

purplecorkheart · 31/07/2019 18:40

M&S online is normally a good bet. Next online normally have a good range although I find the fit can be a bit of a mixed bag. Dunnes Stores a chain in Ireland can be good for suits and they ship to the UK. Their sizes are the same fitting as Marks and Next.

Also have a look in Debenhams.

WarriorsAll · 31/07/2019 18:49

For dd we are going for cheap and black with a black polo - I trying to convince her that the Mod look is as good as it gets when it comes to trying to look vaguely presentable.

landscapingtrees · 31/07/2019 18:50

P.S. sorry if my comment not helpful OP Confused. I'm not a lefty-liberal by any stretch of the imagination, but I am genuinely surprised at this; perhaps I am over-reacting ...

Original poster
MichelleC69 · 31/07/2019 20:15

S'ok @landscapingtrees - it's a private school, if that helps to explain it. At least it keeps her weekend clothes separate, that's what I keep telling myself!

OP posts:
WarriorsAll · 31/07/2019 21:10

- it's a private school, if that helps to explain it I think our school is an aspiring Comp - they like to think they are classy - so that's really not classy. Fur coat no knickers! Maybe the private school are the same...it's all marketing bollocks.

Leakinglikeacolander · 01/08/2019 07:33

It's a Grammar for us, strict dress code and the boys aren't allowed beards or anything like that.
Laughed at the comment about them looking like estate agents.

AChickenCalledDaal · 01/08/2019 07:35

Plenty of state schools around here are insisting on suits for sixth form. It seems to be a trend. Thankfully DDs school has stuck to smart casual.

landscapingtrees · 01/08/2019 18:28

I've calmed down a bit Grin.

On the plus side you don't have the 'designer competition' scenario some schools might have, and of course less washing and general drama, hopefully. Back in the days, when I went to sixth form, it was kind of irrelevant what you wore, and nobody had more than a few clothes, so it was more generally relaxed than now I think. Also, with suits there is less chance of 'innappropriate' stuff that can be distracting. Smart casual sounds a good way round that. It just seems to me like a couple of years of more freedom between childhood and full adulthood has been fenced in, and I think its a bit sad to see 16 and 17 year olds in suits. There's probably research somewhere saying suits mean better grades Hmm.

GenerationYmember · 01/08/2019 21:06

Am I being totally thick but what do you mean by suits for girls?! (in my defence I didn't go to school in the UK).

Is it like fancy blazers, pencil skirts etc? But they are £10 from Asda...

AChickenCalledDaal · 01/08/2019 21:41

There's probably research somewhere saying suits mean better grades.

According to the Head of the local school that insists on suits, it prepares them for adult life. Since my daughter's next step is entry into the best university as she can get herself into, I fail to see the relevance of a cheap suit. Most of the lecturers will undoubtedly be in jeans.

WarriorsAll · 01/08/2019 22:49

it prepares them for adult life. Schools insisting kids to wear a cheap suit every day are setting quite low bar for life! Anyway business formal is easy and if their pupils take 2 years to get that right - they are really going to struggle with adult life.

WarriorsAll · 01/08/2019 22:52

Am I being totally thick but what do you mean by suits for girls? Jacket and trousers or skirt must match/be the same colour....nothing fancy needed - jacket must be formal style - no bombers, no denim or leather. You must look like you are attending an interview everyday.