Didn't think schools were this strict these days

I went from one extreme to the other. PE in our knickers at primary school, then a navy divided skirt at the Grammar, which must have contained many yards of material. As in most things the skirt had to last five years - it was down to my knees when I started and up to my bum by the time I finished.

Blimey, I didn't realise I was "being challenged" by you Anya

At grammar school in the 1940s we had to do P.E. in our navy blue knickers, but they were part of the uniform we had to wear ( Gym slip, white blouse, tie, blazer, navy knickers with a pair of white knicks underneath) these were the navy knickers with a pocket, but i never did find out what the pocket was for. We didnt find anything wrong with wearing them for gym, except when it was sports day, and we didnt want the boys and male teachers to see us.

It’s probably showing my age a bit to have to confess that we always did PE in underwear at primary school. We were supposed to remember to wear navy blue knickers and white vests on PE days, if you forgot to wear a white vest, then you did PE topless (no fun for a 10year old girl I seem to remember). I wish I could remember what the boys wore, I have a feeling they had to wear shorts of some sort, I can’t really believe it was their Y-fronts, but I distinctly remember our navy knickers!

No I don't think it is a bit much. 50 or so years ago we had to do the same with borrowed plimsolls from the school's lost property....it didn't do me any harm ....what's changed that makes it a bit much?

gillybob
Not really - I always sew in two labels, one on the top waistband and another in the pocket lining, sometimes an embroidered star cipher on the inside of the trousers on the turnup. I don't think this will be necessary at DGCs present school which is in a nice area and is very well run. When DS was at school much of the intake was from a very rough estate and pilfering was rife.

Yes * Anya* I bet you could . I'm not disagreeing with you that there were/are probably some truly awful pupils and parents . But I have no experience of them.

How am I "tarring everyone with the same brush" Anya ? When I am only talking about my experience ?

How things have changed! In the 1950s and '60s when I was a schoolgirl we did gym in our shirts and underpants or in a t-shirt and underpants all the time as long as we were indoors. And no-one found the sight of sixteen year old girls in t-shirts and regulation green top pants indecent.
On the playing fields we wore gymslips and had tennis dresses or shorts for tennis in the summer term.

However, children who are used to wearing gym kit probably do feel humiliated if they have to do without it and I feel sorry for the poor child.

Theft is difficult to prove, as the whole point of school uniforms is that everyone looks alike. I think the only way you can make it possible to get back stolen pieces of uniform is to stitch name-tapes in very firmly, so that whoever nicks a pair of shorts hasn't time to rip out the name-tap.

Although there was no physical punishment at my all-girls school, we did have one teacher who specialised in verbal torment. It was never directed at me, but I used to get furious inside listening to the things she said to others, usually about their appearance or religion. I feel ashamed now that I never said anything. Someone should have reported her to the head, but I never even thought of doing that. I think she was mentally unhinged, probably.

^Gilly I’m saying stop tarring everyone with the same brush. I could write stories in here about pupils and their parents that would make your hair stand on end. But I didn’t and I won’t, because they don’t typify the average parent or pupil.

You, only now, when challenged talk about the teachers who you fondly remember. Let’s have more of a balance. For every one poor teacher I met as a child or as a teacher myself I met and worked with dozens of wonderful ones.

On a more pleasant note I loved RE (but I am not religious) and was very fond of my strict, RE teacher who was very old fashioned but drove the most amazing red Capri. She took me and 2 of her other "best gals" to the theatre to see "Joseph". Happy memory.

So are you asking me to say that the incident with my vile primary head, did not happen Anya , because I can assure you it did.

In my day at primary school if you forgot your gym kit you still had to do it....in your knickers!

I am sorry Anya but that was my experience of school in the 60's (primary) and the 70's secondary.

I did have some lovely teachers in primary who I remember fondly but I am sorry if you don't like it but my headmaster was the nastiest man you could ever have the displeasure of meeting. He should never have been a head of a primary and that is the truth.

I was a very timid, quiet child and my parents were very strict. I hated my girls grammar because I clearly didn't fit in with the "grammar school standards" . Some of the teachers (my maths master and RE teacher in particular) were very strict but very fair whereas others seemed to recognize that I (and others too) were timid and picked on us non stop. I could never have told my parents as they would have always taken the side of authority. my voice would have counted for nothing.

Absolutely agree. I am not a teacher but have worked in schools and obviously had children in schools and I think the kind of sadist described is th exception not the rule. Would that the same could said of some parents whose “gifted” children “never lie”!

It's funny this subject came up because hubby and I were just talking about it this morning. When my daughter was twelve she forgot her PE kit. The teacher said she would have to do PE in her knickers. My daughter refused. The teacher phoned me in a fury and said my daughter was a little madam. I told her I was glad my daughter stood up for herself. Can you imagine that happening these days.

I think this PE teacher needs speaking to regarding doing the lesson in underwear it is not acceptable.
It certainly looks as though a pupil has removed your little ones shorts maybe as a joke or because they had forgotten their own.
I remember when mine where at school I had their PE/swimming/football lessons always pinned on the fridge and made sure they always had the kit in their school bags for that day.

Well radical & gilly I don’t recognise that model of teachers you so blithely put down. There’s always a few of those types in any job, and indeed on GN, but most teachers are hard-working and caring people.

So are most parents, but then you get the kind who are always up at the school complaining about their precious moppets. Nothing is ever right. Everyone else is to blame and so on. Some of these children were rather the perpetrators of bullying incidents and when a teacher had tackled the child about their behaviour, up come Mr & Mrs Righteous asking why their child is being chastised.

So let’s have a more balanced view of school staff who are not the evil creatures you make them out to be.

I also remember doing games in knickers but ours were, unfortunately, brown with pocket and elasticated legs! I suppose might not have been such an unfortunate colour in dire circumstances

Me too radicalnan . Some of my teachers in an all girls grammar were horrible and they seem to get a sick pleasure in upsetting/hurting/punishing/humiliating children just because they could.

Mind you the headmaster in primary (late 60's early 70's) was the most evil man ever. He obviously hated children and took great pleasure in humiliating little boys (mainly). He once pulled a boy out in the hall by the ear, he marched him right through the middle of lines of children all sitting cross legged on the floor, making us all scatter side to side to let him through. The boy peed his pants he was so frightened and he made him stand on a PE block at the front with the wee dribbling down his legs. Some children laughed and made fun of him but some (like me) were close to tears for the poor boy. I can remember him to this day and can even picture what he was wearing. and

I loathed school for the petty rules and tin pot dictators dressed up as teachers. I believe bulllying is rife in schools because kids are met every day with the living example of people in authority being unpleasant.

This would seem to be a prime example, humiliating someone for a minor infringment of rules.

Even making them do PE in their underwear though Coconut?

There are so many kids who forget the kit, a general protocol has to be put in place to treat all the same. It does help them to remember next time !

Rules are rules and not meant to be broken. That is why so many children have little or no respect these days !