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

(143 Posts)
Grumpyoldwoman Sat 01-Oct-11 09:57:49

Inspired by the 'OLDEN DAYS' thread and talking about not being able to eat in the street. (woe betide if a prefect saw you!!!)

My Convent School uniform was VERY srict
in Prep school we even had uniform knickers and liberty bodices and socks
We also had uniform indoor and outdoor shoes (no plimsolls...they were clarks 'Mary Janes') and if you forgot your indoor shoes ..as you had to take them home every Friday to get them polished ... you had have yellow dusters tied to your feet all day...some girls loved it but I wouldn't have dared do anything wrong.
We had summer and winter uniform (inc hats) and even in High school we would never be seen in the street without our hat.
In High School my bus stopped literally outside our house and Mum would tell me off if I took my hat off even in the drive.

We had uniform socks and gloves (winter..wooly, summer ...white with an edging) and every pupil was inspected by staff/ prefects as we left school to check our gloves and angle of hats.
In Sixth Form we were allowed to wear uniform skirts and blouses instead of tunics and could were stockings instead of socks !!!
Kids today wouln't believe you ...but I could see my grand-daughter loving it ..she is a real Mallory Towers fan !!

God forbid that your skirt should show your knees !!!! Today's skirts are merely belts !!!

karenthegreat Tue 07-Apr-15 18:13:02

I've just joined after having fun reading about these school uniform horrors and remembered mine without the fun!!!
I went to a prate school in Plymouth and although that was late 1970's early 1980's I guess it was really old fashioned and strict then.
Winter it was light blue blouse, tie, knee length blue kilt, blue pullover, navy blue, light blue, yellow striped blazer, navy knickers, fawn knee socks, brown shoes, navy gabardine coat with hood and blue bowler hat (later in year 11 it was a corduroy beret).
Summer same except, no tie, white ankle socks and straw boater. You could also wear a summer striped skirt instead of the kilt but not many did.
This was up until year 11, and no tights were allowed ever. only socks! It was very strict and if caught not wearing your hat, it was bog trouble and I got caught more then once, and mum was as strict as the teachers and prefects.
Lower 6th was similar except a skirt instead of a kilt, flesh coloured tights were allowed, no tie was worn and the hat was a more normal beret. The rules were still as strict though.
Upper 6th was always a different colour suit uniform each year with a hat only worn on special days.
The last year was best because believe me we all hated the hats.
Can anyone beat that for a uniform in the 1980's?
Oddly after I left they finally relented on the hats in the very late 1980's, and it did seem strange to see the girl without hats, and now the school has merged with the local boys private school.
I may have hated the uniform, but feels sad the school is no longer....

inishowen Mon 06-Apr-15 14:16:01

My mother, bless her heart, didn't like conforming to uniform rules.My ballet outfit should have been, white tunic, blue belt, blue tights, black shoes. She made me a white tunic, and bought a white belt, red tights, and red shoes. When it came to my exams i was made to put on another girl's sweaty uniform as mine was all wrong! When i started school she bought me the outer coat, shoes and socks from the local posh private school. God knows what people thought!

hecate Mon 06-Apr-15 13:32:59

We sewed many items for secondary school during our last year at primary.Fine for aprons etc but as growing girls our summer dresses and blouses were a bit on the snug/short side by the time we came to wear them!

rosequartz Mon 09-Feb-15 17:38:26

White blouse and a tie; revolting box pleated gymslip with a sash to denote your house; cardigan (the elbows always went and had to be darned), a blazer with a badge, a long gabardine belted mac or reefer coat and a velour hat with a band and badge.
In the summer checked dresses with cardigan and blazer (compulsory) and a panama hat with band. Proper filled in sandals, white socks.
For PE we had quite nice maroon short pleated skirts and airtex shirts; however for gym we had the most dreadful Grecian tunics and baggy knickers to match.
Lisle stockings with suspenders (after a year of being there they change the rules and we were allowed to wear 60 denier stockings)
Indoor shoes - proper shoes, not plimsolls
Outdoor shoes - laceups
A leather satchel
Skirts and coloured blouses in the 6th form. (horrible colours though).

At primary school itchy three-quarter length wool socks with garters.

The uniform had to be bought from a specified supplier in Leicester. None of your M&S or George cheaper stuff in those days.

crun Mon 09-Feb-15 17:28:53

At our school it was compulsory to wear your cap outdoors. If a teacher made you put it on, the challenge was to get out of sight before someone knocked it off and kicked it round the playground. grin

Shirts had to be either white or grey, but after a mutiny they backed down and allowed pastel colours. It wasn't many weeks before kids were turning up in maroon, navy blue etc.

annodomini Mon 09-Feb-15 16:48:19

Yet another thread where I find I've said it all already. hmm

Penstemmon Mon 09-Feb-15 16:06:21

Were you anywhere in the Kingston area feetle??? Was it you who pulled of my Juliet Cap??

littleflo Mon 09-Feb-15 16:00:21

In the 60 s our school made it into the Daily Mirror, becausev the headmistress banned umbrellas. "These gells have a hooded mackintosh. Umbrella are common and unnecessary".

rockgran Mon 09-Feb-15 15:06:01

So many rules - each one a potential hanging offence! I may have posted this before but I remember having a "baker boy" hat that had to be worn pulled down enough to show the badge. The headmistress demonstrated its correct position on me in assembly one year and I looked like Benny Hill's "Fred Scuttle". This was 1961. If you had enough money you could wear an "air hostess" hat but it was too expensive for my family's budget.

feetlebaum Mon 09-Feb-15 14:56:53

THEIR uniform... (how long have we been asking for an 'edit' key now?)

feetlebaum Mon 09-Feb-15 14:56:04

I was at a boys school, but we did have a sister girls school - and there uniform boasted the Juliet cap, complete with tassle - this was, of course, a great temptation to we yobs, as it made the thing so easy to grab - sometimes they were chucked out of the window if you were on a bus...

Penstemmon Mon 09-Feb-15 14:20:27

At boarding school we wore ugly bottle green serge round necked tunics with round necked blouses. The colour of your sash denoted your 'house' :Skerne, Kent, Swale or Tees. Bottle green knickers over you white cotton ones, socks or stockings, indoor/outdoor shoes and berets for everyday and velour hats for Sunday. Green gaberdine raincoats too.

At the secondary school I moved to when I was 13 we wore grey A-line skirts, white shirts, school tie and grey blazers. School shoes could be anything flat! We had boaters in summer , green hats in winter and when in the 6th form Lovatt green jumper (instead of grey) plus the joy of pinning on a green Juliette cap with yellow tassle onto the back of your head! hmm

hildajenniJ Mon 09-Feb-15 13:57:40

I went to secondary school in the '60's. We had a uniform consisting of, navy blue pleated skirt, navy blue cardigan or v necked sweater, white blouse, grey knee length socks and black shoes. We had a blazer (optional) with the school badge on the breast pocket. We had to have a satchel to carry our books etc. until the third form, after that we could take any other sort of bag. Most of us chose to carry a gondola basket. I had a square basket as it was easier to carry cookery home in. My how times have changed.

gillybob Mon 09-Feb-15 13:44:53

Quite strict for the 70's, my (all girls grammar) school had regulation long grey socks, tie, blazer etc. and our head of house would measure the gap between the bottom of our skirts and the floor when kneeling.

granjura Mon 09-Feb-15 13:13:36

No uniform- hurrah smile

Marmight Sun 08-Feb-15 23:27:08

Hello negro. As you see from previous posts both nanapug and I were at Summers Place. I was there from 1960 to 1965. I don't remember outside toilets and water butts but the weak cocoa was the highlight of my day wink. Send me a PM and tell me who you are/were, although you had probably left by the time I started. Curiouser and curiouser..........

negroperro Sun 08-Feb-15 22:53:27

Yes I used to go to the Immaculate Heart of Mary school in Billingshurst. It would have been in 1955 or 1956... ? I was taught by the nuns,and I was terrified of the statues of Jesus in the corridors showing his bleeding heart etc., also hated the way we had to queue in the corridor and wait to be sent to a toilet... marble arch was my favourite... I remember having to wash our hands in a water butt outside, which always had bits of leaves floating in it and dead mozzies... and that hot chocolate in a metal cup with skin floating on it.. having to do Hail Mary´s and do the sign of the cross every time we passed the chapel, by putting our fingers on wet moss which of course was wetted with holy water... and the vicar in the chapel waving incense around... we were taught all sorts of things such as real writing with an ink pen, and elocution... dancing too etc., when were you there ... ?

lynne Fri 13-Sep-13 18:16:32

grin....I was 18 not the teacher

lynne Fri 13-Sep-13 18:15:14

Strict...aged 18 the teacher in charge of us girls paced at breaktimes with a ruler and measured the distance between our hemline and ' bobby socks '. heaven forbid if you were standing speaking to a male...smile

Charleygirl Fri 13-Sep-13 14:05:18

Thanks Grandmanorm it was Forsyths, I remember now.

Grandmanorm Fri 13-Sep-13 12:06:46

Oh I used commas instead of asterisks, sorry Charleygirl

Grandmanorm Fri 13-Sep-13 12:05:51

"Charleygirl" Jenners, Forsyths or Aiken and Niven!!! those were the school outfitters.
I went to a convent in junior school, which I loved, then a large private school for the senior part, which I hated.
Uniform was strict in both schools. We used to get reported to the headmistress if anyone saw us eating on the bus or not wearing our hats!!!
Edinburgh is such a snobbly place to grow up in, where you go to school was so important to some folk and often the first question one was asked when meeting new folk, as adults. Not me though I couldn't care less where folk come from, if we get on, that is the main thing.
Bit of a ramble as I am waiting for GP and district nurse, sorry.

tarotfool Fri 13-Sep-13 11:15:00

I went to a convent school as well, we were not allowed to wear patent leather shoes as they might reflect our underwear. But if we forgot school shorts on a tennis day, we had to walk to the courts, in battersea Park, in our gym knickers!

Charleygirl Mon 09-Sep-13 21:42:25

I went to a convent but I loved it there, mainly because there was no corporal punishment. The uniforms were something else. A grey/blueish pinafore dress with a long sleeved grey blouse, winter and summer, a grey cardigan and blazer the same colour as the pinafore dress. Culottes and a blue airtex type short sleeved blouse for games, a tartan kilt with a white blouse, tie and tweed jacket for Sundays. A white dress for holy days. All of the uniform could only be bought in one shop in Edinburgh, the name escapes me. Everything was long, way below my knees.
Grey knickers with white knicker linings! Grey knickers were changed weekly, the linings x3 a week! The blouse worn daily was changed weekly- the nuns saved on water! A bath x3 a week provided that there was sufficient hot water. This was 1955 -1961.

Nonu Mon 09-Sep-13 20:17:18

I went to a private school , we had navy gymslips white shirts and ties , velour hats in the Winter , blazers .
Summer , poplin frocks white knee sox and boaters and whoa betide you you if you dared to roll up the blazer sleeves . Detention straight away .
I cannot say school days where the happiest of my life !