Go on, who had the strictest School Uniform ???

KatyK
Sisters of the charity of st Vincent de Paul were the nuns at my primary and junior school. Old spinsters at my all girl grammar school.

I've noticed that people who have enjoyed a privileged education of some kind, involving boaters and Latin, often complain about how awful their school days were.

It was't a barrel of laughs in the typical bog standard sec mod in those days either though at least no-one really cared if school uniforms were worn or not.

Petra. Nuns would be in my room 101 too. At my Catholic infants/junior school we were taught by nuns. Most (with the odd kind exception) were horrible. I found out many years later that they were called the Sisters of Charity (what a joke). They reigned by fear and so did many of the priests at the adjoining church.

I'm NOT surprised that so many women on here went to convents. And don't get me started on nuns. They would be first on my Room 101 list. An old friend of mine showed me the scars on her back where she was whipped.

So many women traumatized by their compulsory school uniform!

I still do not wear green..It haunted me all my school life! I lived opposite my school and it always seemed such a waste to have to by a summer boater, winter velour and also a beret! In the 6th form we wore Juliet caps with tassels on! All those hats just to cross the road

My grammar school uniform wasn't too bad . Navy pinafore dress in the winter, and when you reached the dizzy heights of the upper IV or some such ,you were allowed to remove the top bit and wear it as a skirt. Come to think of it could that have been because boobs didnt look right under the 'bib'? In the summer we could choose bright blue or emerald green skits to be worn with short sleeved blouse. but woe betide anyone whose blouse did not come from Selfridges . Miss S ,the games teacher, would be down on them like a ton of bricks, as she would if anyone used 'ironmongery' to secure the needle cord beret to the back of the bouffant hairdo!

@pk1878 I went to holly lodge. We probably played you at hockey though I would certainly never have been on a team. Didnt you have brown and egg yolk for uniform? We were basic navy but coloured stripy ties and green and white striped blouses. Awful Grecian style (homemade for me ) outfits for gym in maroon or bottle green and we had to make our domestic science pinafores and headbands ourselves with initials in satin stitch in red and green.

I love the difference between those smart schoolboys who pose for the school uniform photograph and the reality - Just William ties partly under the collar, shirts partly tucked in, scuffed shoes, (unbelievably expensive) blazer hanging off the shoulders....When my DS went to an international school, they wore the smart uniform to and from school and for formal occasions but changed into jeans, school sweatshirt and trainers for the ordinary school day.

I don't remember too much about school uniform but when I went to Teacher Training college in 1967 I was amazed at how strict it was. My uniform overalls for practical classes cost a fortune but at least we did not have to starch them as earlier students did. Mini skirts were sort of accepted but TROUSERS !!!!!!! Some lecturers refused to teach us if we wore them. We had to be in by 10.30 during the week or 11pm weekends and as for the ''men out'' bell ..........................!!
Anyone else remember Glousestershire College of Education ??

As I'm sure I said before - we had no compulsory uniform though we did have one for special occasions. This laxity did not prevent me from getting a load of Highers, a University bursary and an honours degree.

Revolting bottle green uniform .. Pinafore dress down to mid calf, fleecy bottle green knickers ( with pocket?!). But the ultimate humiliation was having to wear white ankle socks aged 18.

My goodness, I remember when this thread started back in 2011! It's interesting when they come back to life.

There will be someone here who knows your school, pk1878 - I'd bet my life on it! Anyway - hello there.

I also went to a Convent & some of these uniforms sound very similsr to ours. Did anyone go to Notre Dame Collegiate in Everton Valley Liverpool & do you have any photos of our uniforms? Thanks

My uniform was just like the OP, except we did not have uniform gloves. The colours were brown and gold. Brown school knickers have to be the most sexless garment ever invented.

We had a motto - typical Yorkshire really - nil sine labore, ie nothing without work.

I found it was easy wearing a uniform; no decisions to make about what to wear. Trouble is, I never did develop a fashion sense after leaving school.

But I did always wear nice panties after I left!!

GOW, I recognise those nuns FCJ?

Our deputy head used to stand at the bottom of the stair case and seek out the girls who were wearing stiff petticoats under their school skirts, this was in the early 60s. They were promptly told to take them off. Also were see through stockings with socks, we thought they were wonderful especially if the stocking were a diamond pattern.

In the second school we had a stock of spare 2nd hand stuff and made up sets for new families that probably did not have the cash to buy new.

One school some of my gc attended had an excellent idea - parents could contribute good but outgrown uniform and it was kept in a private room. Anybody needing uniform could ask to look and see if they could find anything suitable.

In my first headship the school had no uniform some parents cam and asked if as the new head I would introduce a uniform. I said if they wanted a uniform that was fine by me but it had to be inexpensive and practical. I asked them to survey parents and they could choose colour etc! They came up with a really ugly maroon colour but were practical in the trousers, skirts etc! I was not strict with enforcing it though as many v poor families and if the stuff was not clean or dry I'd rather they came to school without uniform than not come incase they were in trouble.

Lord did we hate our berets. Supposed to be worn all the way to school and all the way home again. My garberdine mac was re-vitalised much later as a fashion item I seem to recall.
They still have those elaborate uniforms in NZ. Extraordinary outfits, often involving a below-the-calf kilt, specially chosen to make all girls look a fright, particularly when worn with a shirt and fancy blazer. They seem to accept them. 3 big Maori girls walking down the high street in their huge kilts a sight to behold.
I have a theory that the posher the school and its uniform, the more the girls rebel. Always a smug school governor that we had a very basic, cheap uniform and all girls wore dark trousers. They the students asked if they could have "a uniform like other schools" bless them. So they have a tie and a (cheap) black blazer these days and black trousers. Still no rebellion really. Bless their cotton socks really, they are quite proud of the uniform that they requested and when you see some of them coming to school with no coats in the winter, or broken shoes

Must say I always wanted to call Social Services whenever I first saw those poor kids (well, not poor ... but 'poor') - dressed in those stripy blazers, caps and shorts ...

That made me smile Greatnan. Our Loreto sisters decided when we reached sixth form, to let the girls decide ourselves on the uniform. There were many heated debates and in the end compromise was reached with the exception of what to wear on our heads. The posh girls, with their leader, Olivia, all wanted boaters and velours as you describe. The lefty plebs under my leadership either wanted nothing at all on our heads (no interference with the beehive) or, if we had to, berets. In the end Mother Mary Paulina declared that no compromise was possible and we could choose to wear berets or boaters. I used to wear my Labour party badge and CND emblem pinned on my beret. Mother Paulina was absolutely in favour, her brother was a great friend of Bruce Kent and she prayed every night for the success of CND. When a group of us went on the Aldermaston march, the sisters made us a big box of sticky oat biscuits as they said we would need lots of energy.

I bought some normal lace and nylon panties at Matalan when I was in Manchester - only £2 a pair and so easy to wash in an hotel room as they can be dried with a hair dryer! I loathe thongs and find them disgusting and I can't stand anything that does not come up to my waist.

My 15-year old gd in New Zealand looks very smart in her green plaid kilt and white blouse - no tie or hat. I like the idea of uniform because it makes everybody equal, but sometimes it is taken to ridiculous lengths in England. We had to have navy cardigans and coats, not black, and sometimes they were only obtainable at Manners, a very expensive specialist shop in Mancheser. My mother took out a Provident cheque to buy my first uniform as my dad, whilst proud that I had passed the 'scholarship' was not proud enough to contribute. She tried to dye a lavender coat, given to me by the woman she cleaned for, but it wouldn't take navy blue, so I had to have a regulation gaberdine. The posh girls wore velour hats and straw boaters in summer, but the rest of us wore berets with the school badge sewn on all year round.
Of course, like today's girls, in the early 1950s we managed to customise our uniforms - tie in blazer pocket, top button undone, skirt shortened from calf length to knee length. I suppose we looked just as scruffy as they do today - but no make-up , of course. I think Mother Anna would have had a heart attack if she saw the way 13-year olds go to school today.

Our school motto was a perversion of 'Omnia vincit amore' (love conquers all) and became 'Omnia vicit labor' (work conquers all).
There were no boys or men teachers, but in gym we had to go though stupid contortions to prevent the other girls seeing our bras - no showers, of course. Boy, those nuns were obsessed by sex, although it was never mentioned, not even menstruation or pregnancy. Anybody wanting to take Biology at A-level had to go to the local Technical College. It was quite a popular subject, because the Tech had boys!