School uniform kilts

There’s a posh public school near here and the girls have always worn long tartan kilts in winter. They are very long and cannot be rolled over into mini skirts. I like to see them actually.

I think some state schools are copying them but they are of inferior quality and of much thinner material so they can be turned over at the waist and worn much shorter.

I can’t enlighten you as to why schools choose tartan just to say there are at least schools near me where the girls wear tartan skirts/kilts one is brown mix and the other one red.

Two schools

My DD'ss wore grey kilts at secondary school until year 10 with a grey blazer. It had previously been a boy's school who's uniform was a grey suit. I think the idea about the kilt was to make ladies of them, they could not fool around or they gapped and they were not allowed to put a pin in.
Frinds D's wore tartan skirt kilts, they were all Independent schools.
Thinking back I always wore kilts at Infant and Junior school and they were not the family tartan of which my mother would have had a choice,Stewart being the main.
Maybe the reason is the same as my daughters you can not fool around or personalise them.

Girls will always find a way of bending the rules on skirts if they can, wether kilts of not. There is a private girls school nearby that has calf length skirts I don’t remember seeing trousers either, very strict uniform code.

Is that Gresham’s School Primrose? The girls look very smart in their kilts.

Where I used to live there was a comprehensive which required the girls to wear kilts or trousers. The girls used to roll the tops of the skirts over (as we did in the 60s!) and didn’t look nearly so good.

We have three schools here where the girls wear kilt style skirts. The schools are part of an academy. I like them, such a change from the dreary navy and black. I think they look to be of good quality too.

All the senior schools near us, three, have moved to plaid skirts, they’re not kilts with pins, I don’t know why, they look smart though.

I often find that of I write something down, then an answer forms in my mind. These 'kilts' do seem to be uniform - in that each school has its own tartan (does anyone know if they're supposed to register it?) but I don't see them generally available.
Are they more expensive than standard grey / black skirts or trousers - which would make the school a bit more exclusive?
It also amuses me that those of you who have mentioned them, say no pins ( a sharp object!). Does anyone who knows about them know if the boys can wear kilts? I thought they were traditional male attire.

Trousers for all. Regulation shorts for summer. Why do people make such a song and dance about uniforms.
These solutions cheap for all, and removes the disgusting habit of upskirting, not easy when kilts are the norm.

At my GD secondary school, which she joined this month, everyone - girls and boys - has to wear black trousers. The reason given was that the staff were spending so much time policing the length of skirts that they decided to bring in the new rule. I must say, having seen some of the girls in their very short skirts previously, it seems sensible.

GD is not bothered by it in the least - she quite likes the plain black trousers that were bought at the local Matalan store!

AskAlice

At my GD secondary school, which she joined this month, everyone - girls and boys - has to wear black trousers. The reason given was that the staff were spending so much time policing the length of skirts that they decided to bring in the new rule. I must say, having seen some of the girls in their very short skirts previously, it seems sensible.

GD is not bothered by it in the least - she quite likes the plain black trousers that were bought at the local Matalan store!

Plain black trousers - excellent idea. I hope it catches on.

As regards kilts, wrapover skirts would also allow teenage girls to to grow, but wouldn't have the 'modesty pin' that a kilt has.

My state Girls' Grammar school in the non-rural Midlands had a phase of kilts as school uniform, no idea why, long after I left in 1964. I don't know if they still do.

I worked in a state comp where the head introduced pleated kilt style skirts believing, erroneously as it turned out, that they were more difficult to shorten than the plain A line skirt. The skirts were of a thin polyester type which were easily rolled up or just cut off at the hem to make shorter , which most of the girls did. I guess if it were genuine lined wool then the skirt would be more difficult to roll up. Talking of skirts I drove past a school when they were all coming out last week , and the length of the skirts of some of the girls left nothing to the imagination - you could honestly see their knickers . No one would have to up skirt there to get an eyeful. Plus some of the girls seem to be wearing little black Lycra PE shorts which were even more revealing.

Thank you to those who have taken the trouble to reply, although we do still only seem to have a small inkling as to why!

I am in agreement with those who say that plain black trousers seem very sensible - however, they are not comfy for all. The women in my family whilst not especially overweight all have big bums! Until the advent of stretchy fabric, the only trousers that fitted any of us comfortably were home-made Oxford bags / palazzo pants. Now I love that I can make nice looking trousers that fit and drape properly and stretch when I sit down. So I hope students can have trousers in stretch fabric.

I do realise that boys' traditional school uniform isn't comfortable either. I personally think that as long as the students are clean and tidy, they should be as comfortable as possible. But I wasn't really wanting to go down the old debate about school uniform as such, just interested in this (to me, strange) trend.

And talking of comfort - I wasn't the only girl at my chool in the 60s who foud the old-fashioned loose-fitting blouse under a gym slip much more comfortable than the 'modern' skisrt, shirt and tie (hate ties!) that was introduced half way through my time there! And those voluminous thick knickers in dark colours!

My gd wears kilts at her grammar school too, as does the comprehensive school nearby. I like them.
However in her school once in the 4 th year an A line skirt replaces the kilts, at £45 a pop, of course the school benefits financially but I think it’s a totally unnecessary expense for parents.

We have a couple of schools with kilts here and my grandaughters in southern Ireland were disgusted to have to wear them over there

This isn't a new thing though is it? It was not uncommon when I was at school in the 1970s - many of the local schools in East London/Essex had faux-kilts, in school colours - especially the private schools.

I think that state schools have caught on to the fact that there is big money to be made from getting a cut of school uniform sales - especially if the school can stop parents getting the standard grey/black/navy blue skirts from the supermarket for £4.99 and force them to go to the school's uniform outfitter that has a monopoly and buy a skirt for £40!

This seems to have happened at the bog standard Comp near my DB's house - since the 1990s girls wear a kilt-style, tartan skirt with the school logo embroidered near the hemline that cost £38-50 each and only available from one shop. Makes me very happy that my kids went to non-uniform schools in Scandinavia.

Trousers seem like a very sensible idea - they were a part of the uniform at my own bog standard comp in the 1970s when they made the uniform more flexible to make it more affordable. In fact it used to make me smile seeing my own daughter going off to school in non uniform Sweden, wearing a virtual replica of my high school uniform from East London in the 70s - black trousers and white blouse/top.

Kilts are certainly de rigueur in most private schools and I like them. At primary level the pinafore ones with a bib look nice.
I've noticed kilts being adopted in schools abroad now too. They look smart and are hard wearing.

Germanshepherdsmum

Is that Gresham’s School Primrose? The girls look very smart in their kilts.

Where I used to live there was a comprehensive which required the girls to wear kilts or trousers. The girls used to roll the tops of the skirts over (as we did in the 60s!) and didn’t look nearly so good.

Yes it is. germanshepherdsmum The kilts come well down to mid calf and are so thick and heavy that they would look ridiculous rolled over.

Yes. They look like young ladies.

As far as I can see not many schools have taken on the government’s advice that uniform should be easily affordable!

The ones in my area are comprehensive not private
Same with my grandaughters just normal high school

I believe it’s not too expensive in State schools - certainly that was the case when my son attended but not when I did in the 60s - my uniform was horrendously expensive and only available from three shops. It’s different with independent schools, if parents can afford the fees they can afford the uniform,