School uniform for girls

I can’t speak for the whole of Europe but here in Malta uniform is worn at all schools whether state, private or Church.

My granddaughter is at school in the USA and I think they look scruffy wearing anything they like, although there are still rules about skimpy tops etc.

We always wore uniform as did my own children, definitely no mini skirts allowed, our skirts had to touch the floor when we knelt down.

I too hate school uniforms. My children went to Dutch schools and wore what they liked. This was never a problem and certainly saved a lot of money.
As an aside they were also afforded much more freedom than here which made the majority of them much more independent and responsible.
I hated secondary school but would have thrived in the Dutch system.

As somebody who tried to always wear short skirts to school myself in the seventies, and regularly got told off, I sympathise. We used to wear our navy knickers with them, now the girls wear Lycra shorts, so it’s not indecent. Teenagers try to bend the school rules, a fact of life.

Girls in Australia wear shorts as part of their school uniform very frequently, maybe that is something that could be added to the uniform options here?

Calendargirl

They might just as well wear shorts instead of skirts then, if the skirts are so short they need shorts underneath them.

🤷‍♀️

They think black Lycra shorts give a modicum of decency rather than their pants or, heaven help us, their thongs were on display.

GrannyGravy13

One of our local senior schools has just banned skirts.

They allegedly have strict rules on the style of trousers for both girls and boys.

The elder girls (now in yr 11 & 10) were not impressed by this, nor the style of trousers.

Tough!!!
Most of us on here had to endure school uniform we hated.

My elder Gdd just started senior school, and IMO she looks very smart in her uniform. A short black ‘pencil’ skirt, as she calls it, with black tights. She’s very slim, and IMO it looks absolutely fine.

GrannyGravy13, most uniform school trousers that I see locally, look utterly shapeless and ill-fitting, so I can’t blame the girls for being peed off.

I think they make the girls wear boys style trousers in sweaty polyester which unsurprisingly aren’t popular. I bet most of these girls hardly ever wear skirts outside of school so its not having to wear trousers per se they complain about.

dragonfly46

I too hate school uniforms. My children went to Dutch schools and wore what they liked. This was never a problem and certainly saved a lot of money.
As an aside they were also afforded much more freedom than here which made the majority of them much more independent and responsible.
I hated secondary school but would have thrived in the Dutch system.

Me too!

Witzend

My elder Gdd just started senior school, and IMO she looks very smart in her uniform. A short black ‘pencil’ skirt, as she calls it, with black tights. She’s very slim, and IMO it looks absolutely fine.

They all start off like that, Witzend.
Then they get to Y9 🤔

I think they made trousers compulsory in some schools because some boys were 'upskirting'.
Any boys found doing that should be disciplined and I believe mobile phones should be handed in and not used in school anyway.

Our daughter and SIL went to view a school for our GD.
She was 7 at the time but the school educates to 18.

Our daughter looking around the sports facilities etc was a waste of time as she knew her husband would want our GD to go when he saw the female pupils in ankle length kilts!

I think School uniform is a great leveller and I was happy to wear one in Secondary school. I would have hated to have to wear my own clothes every day as my parents could never afford to buy many clothes. The uniform, although costly, was a godsend to me and many others from working class backgrounds joining a grammar school.
I also think girls should not be made to wear trousers at school, they should have a choice BUT if wearing skirts then those skirts should be of a reasonably modest length and that length should be determined and monitored by the school.

JenniRen
I think they made trousers compulsory in some schools because some boys were 'upskirting'.

Yes-a modern version of what boys did before.
Any boys found doing that should be disciplined
Certainly, but instead of that, girls’ clothes must be changed because those in charge are unable to control boys behaviour.

My experience of schools with a no uniform policy, also has rules about what was/was not allowed. e.g. no skimpy tops, no very short skirts, no visible underwear, no fashionably torn garments, no harem pants (low crotch trousers fashionable for boys), no garments with bad language or vulgar images etc.
What experiences do others who have mentioned children at non-uniform schools have? Or should we believe that all children at non uniform schools automatically make sensible clothing choices?

When I was at school..there was a standard school uniform ..blazer tie etc. Grey skirts . Minis were in when I started secondary and we all wore them ...indeed we even rolled them up to b shorter. Let the young b young !

If I had my way girls would be wearing culottes instead of skirts……..try rolling those up at the waist band! i always remember my mum telling me that it isn’t classy or smart to show a lot of leg, it’s cheap and common!

I am not a fan of school uniform. Pupils learn fine at colleges without uniforms.

I think they should be scrapped whilst keeping the same rules about decency ... length of skirt, neckline etc.

I have huge sympathy with teachers having to waste time enforcing uniform rules. The fewer the rules the less time wasted.

Two of my children went to a school with no uniform... it did not hold them back in any way.

Plain trousers (not grungy tracksuit bottoms or skin-tight leggings, which do nobody any favours!) would help to instil in girls a sense of taking pride in their appearance rather than in their physical attractiveness. Smart uniforms would perhaps help to do away with the insultingly saucy "Ooooh, naughty St Trinian's schoolgirls, wink-wink-nudge-nudge" stereotyping. Add to that a "no piercings, false eyelashes or makeup on school premises" principle and children just might go back to being children rather than mini "pick-me!" women.
Yes, I know a lot of them will get changed and put on slap as soon as they're out of the gates but then so did we, after a fashion! The main point for me, is that dress codes give girls a basic understanding of one of life's Great Truths: the way we present ourselves will affect the way people treat us. I think we fail our girls badly when we don't make sure they learn that.
Dodgy male attention aside, less revealing school clothes could also help girls to fit in whose race and/or religion requires them to dress "demurely".
I'm not sure about blazers. They're smart and schools seem to like them as walking adverts, but they're expensive. Neckties are just plain ridiculous and outdated - we might as well make bustles and spats compulsory too!
I and most of my friends hated our uniforms. On the other hand, all those strict dress-code rules did give us a kind of trench camaraderie, which is priceless at any stage of life.

Most schools insist on the knee length rule for skirts, however there's nothing to prevent the students rolling up their waistbands just as we did all those years ago. In days of yore girls petitioned to be allowed to wear trousers, now they are unhappy if they are required to wear trousers (no skirts). Just like everything else, it goes round & round. As an ex secondary school manager ties, untucked shirts, drainpipe trousers, short skirts etc etc were the bane of my life. You cannot ignore transgressions but not you cannot spend every interaction with a student to be about their uniform. I find myself looking at my teenage grandchildren and mentally ticking off their rule breeches.

I have seen very young schoolgirls wearing these pelmet skirts and also seen men looking at them. Not nice. I think as many have said that schools should adopt trousers for both genders and scrap the skirts.

And I agree the poor girls keep self consciously tugging their skirts so as to cover their knickers. The Lycra shorts underneath are good, especially I would think when the girls are on their period.
But just put them in trousers.

My GD has started high school this year - co ed. All the girls wear trousers. Perfect on my opinion.

My dd wore a kilt at her single sex school
And in 6th form they could wear their own clothes as long as they weren’t strapless or cropped tops .,
My DS wore uniform until 6th form and then they wore suits which looked very smart . His school is now coed for 6th form and the girls wear trousers or a skirt with a smart jacket and blouse . There are a number of Muslim girls and obviously they want to be covered up.

Vickymeldrew, we have a high school just up the road from us and I have to say that the girls wear very much the same as school wear as you described but with thick black tights. I see them walking down the road pulling their skirts as well and I wonder if they are any shorter than I/we wore at school as the only difference seems to be the skirts are made of lycra and they ride up against the black tights. It's just a different fashion than in the 60's but I don't think I would have been comfortable back then but it's a different generation and my mother, and friends mothers, went mental at what we were walking out in. I know my mother tried buying me a longer 'proper' school skirt and I just turned up the waistband to the length I wanted and unfurled it as I got off the bus going home.

My grandchildren go to the local high school here. None of the high schools have a uniform policy but the rule is appropiate footwear and no underwear on display. They all wear their own comforable jeans, leggings or shorts with trainers. Skirts are very rarely worn.

Fallingstar

I have seen very young schoolgirls wearing these pelmet skirts and also seen men looking at them. Not nice. I think as many have said that schools should adopt trousers for both genders and scrap the skirts.

Fallingstar
that is precisely the point I’m making.
I’ve seen men looking at them
boys upskirting
^ boys standing below looking up skirts and making comments^
And the people who have to pay the price for that male behaviour are . . .
females!
It’s not whether girls would prefer to wear trousers, - it’s the fact that they have to wear trousers because of male behaviour.