1950s and 60s leisure wear. Was school uniform worn socially?

I didn’t change when I got home from school unless I was going out. I think I only had three lots of clothes: uniform, Sunday best and other. Mostly my sister’s hand-me-downs until I was 14 as by then we were both the same size. I got my first ever new coat! Before long we we wearing adult clothes, as there was no such thing as teenage fashion. I have a photo of us when we were about 16/17, looking identical in summer raincoats, carrying handbags, like the previous Queen.

I didn't wear school uniform in primary school but when I went to secondary school I did . It was incredibly expensive and because I was a "scholarship" girl my parents didn't want me to look as if I didn't belong there (which I didn't). So, they bought me everything new. It was a huge sacrifice for them which I really didn't appreciate at the time. Most of the girls had come up from prep and there was a busy secondhand market as we grew out of our uniform so a new uniform was really not necessary. I always changed as soon as I got home and as everything was bought for me to "grow into" my uniform, over the years got very shabby but the first thing I did on getting home was to change into old house clothes. I still do it to this day! My own children did the same although it was because they couldn't wait to get into something more comfortable!

Never ever wore uniform out of school. 100 lines from a prefect if you were seen without your Panama or beret. I can’t imagine what would have happened if they had seen you in school uniform, at a dance or the cinema for example.

Stoker48

I’ve just been looking at some old photos from 1950s /60s.
I know my dad didn’t really have “ leisure clothes”, he just wore his less good suit with no tie.
I have photos of us as a family, almost knee deep in wet sand, cockle picking on the beach. He still had his suit on. He just rolled up his trousers.
Jeans or shorts didn’t seem a wearable choice then.
My question is though, did some children wear their school uniform at the weekends etc if they were, for instance, going out visiting?
I have a photo with a boy aged about 9 sitting in a relaxed family group having tea in the garden but he’s wearing his full school uniform, including school cap, long grey socks and school shoes.
Thank you

I wonder if he went to a boarding or private school and when he was home, he was 'Taken round the relatives' so thwy could see the boy in his uniform ? That's the only reason I can think of, unless he had got off school early for a doctor's visit or something .

We never did. However I sometimes saw people in bits of school uniforms when on holiday, perhaps for boys, shorts and plimsolls and girls maybe a school skirt with their own top.

I wore short dresses, not uniform. In the summer I wore shorts. Uniform was for school only

No, never. I’d change out of my uniform as soon as I got home. Maybe in your photo the boy was wearing his new uniform to show to family. I had to do this but refused to have my photo taken as I felt so uncomfortable in it.