General Chat

btw Maggie, I smile when my son says Friday is 'dress down day' I often wonder if it wouldn't look more professional if they had 'dress up day'

;-)))

The schools my children go to have decided in their wisdom for the polo shirts, sweat shirts, and fleeces all to have logos on them and they are compulsory. They also are only available in two shops and dont come cheap.

The cheapest item was the polo shirts at £15

Even the sports kit has logos on them now.

I kitted my children out last weekend and it cos me nearly £250 and that wasnt including the stationry and bag which i had already bought.

We are lucky that Nathan has a good job but how people on low incomes manage i dont know and the school clothing grants dont cover the costs of there items.

Mine had to be bought from Henry Taylors in London, which was the only outfitter for my school and was expensive.
My 3 all went to a grammar school in Wales and although initially we went to the designated outfitter afterwards we bought standard black skirts and trousers. We HAD to buy the jumpers from the school. Although we bought school badges from the outfitters and sewed them on.

Uniforms were never cheap but I think always looked nice.

Sue

I've just bought the following stuff for my lad. I have got 5 sets of uniforms because he is such a mucky pup so he can have clean every day. Mostly stuff from Matalan, but the sweatshirts and the book bag have to have the school logo on so they are from a specialist shop.

Trousers 5 @ 3.50 £17.50
White polos 2xpacks of 3 @ £4.50 £9.00
Shoes £10.00
Socks 5prs for £2.50
Coat £8.00
PE Kit £7.00
PE Bag £3.50
Plimsolls £1.50

Sweatshirts 5 @ £8.00 £40.00
Book Bag £4.50

Total £103.50

I don't think this is too bad though as I remember my mum paying £75.00 in 1974 for my Grammar School uniform. She only got two skirts/blouses/jumpers for that price too, whereas I have got 5 of everything.

Dianne xx

Dee,
I was at school at the time of the mini skirt too! We had a couple of sessions with the ruler determining the length of the skirt, but as the school became a 6th form college while I was there, and the uniform for 6th formers was phasd out they didn't really have a hope in hell of enforcing it!!

However, at my daughters school, I was summoned up there 2 years running. The first time to complain that my daughters skirt was too short - the next time for them to complain that it was too long (mid calf length)!! .....and they wondered why I had no respect for the head - even when I worked there!!

maggie

Good morning all
My children wore school uniforms that could only be purchased from special outfitters,and every item was expensive then, in the 1970's.Glad though Dee that mine didn't have to wear gaberdine macs.

The middle schools colours,navy and grey,weren't too difficult to buy but in the high the school introduced purple skirts for the girls, and that caused us some trouble,because if ,for what ever reason, the outfitters didn't have daughter's size (length) in stock we had to find an alternative.
Well of course how many shades of purple are there?
My daughter was singled out and harassed because skirt was not the right shade! she had a few months to go till end of last term and I was summoned to the deputy's office and told to buy another, and made to feel about 2 inches high!

However school uniforms do look smart and show a belonging and I agree pupils shouln't wear jewelry.

I'm always amused when I'm walking past our local school on last day of term,when all the trees are adorned with school ties hanging from their branches.lol

Mau xx :O)

Just remembered (wish I hadn't) one year when I had a shirtwaister summer dress - I felt soooo trendy.
Shirtwaisters rise when you lift your arms.
Mine was just above the knee.
This was when tights were very expensive, and mum wasn't going to buy them for a 13 year old, so I wore suspenders and stockings.
Stockings were 'shaped' for ladies legs - not for a short skinny schoolgirl,(about 4'9 and weighing less than 5 stone) and suspender belts didn't come in particularly small sizes either....

I cringe when I think about the sight that must have met people when I raised both my arms...
The suspenders, even at their shortest were lower than mid thigh, with a wodge of the too long stockings carelessly rolled and clipped unevenly in place.....
I was so relieved when 'midi's' came in.

maggie

Looking at the prices people have paid this year it seems it does depend very much on what can be bought in the High Street stores and what has to be bought at a specialist shop on how much people have to pay

Mau made a valid point about children being singled out if they didn’t have the regulation garments, and certainly in my day a teacher would have ridiculed a pupil in front of his or her classmates

Some would say that uniforms are worn so that children are not made to feel out of place by those whose parents can afford to keep them immaculately dressed in the latest fashionable clothes. Others probably see it as the first introduction to learning how to conform to be acceptable. It does, hopefully, stop children going into school inappropriately dressed. I guess schools tread a fine line to keep the balance, at the end of the day though the children need to have some pride in their appearance, and I am not completely sure that making them wear an outdated uniform is the way to do it