Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

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Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Daogroupie »

So three schools in Ipswich have now banned skirts, others have moved to kilts that are more difficult to roll up. One of our local schools has introduced a uniform policy when individual girls are banned from wearing trousers if they come to school with skirts that are too short. Firstly they are banned for a term. If they repeat offend they are banned for good. That seems to me to be a better policy than penalising all the girls for the actions of a few. Does anyone have a dd already in a school where skirts are banned? I will be very sorry if our school goes this way but I know the senior staff are very unhappy about the skirt lengths of some of the girls and I do think they look very trashy and let down the school. They just announced a crackdown on sixth form outfits and I wonder if the lower school will be next. DG
Kiwimum
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Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Kiwimum »

Last term my DD's school sent home a letter banning skirts from the start of the next academic year. A few weeks later they sent another letter saying they had reviewed this and were no longer banning skirts however they had to be of the regulation length - I'm not sure what caused the turn around, can only imagine there were lots of complaints.
Personally, I don't mind if they ban skirts, my DD perfers trousers and there's no problem with holey tights!!
yoyo123
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Location: East Kent

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by yoyo123 »

I still have memories of having to kneel on the floor while prefects measured to see if our skirts were more than 5" above the knee.
Alex
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Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Alex »

5" above the knee :shock: Ours had to touch the floor when we knelt. But of course as soon as the uniform inspection was done the skirts were rolled up. For the first two years we wore gymslips - couldn't do anything with those. DDs' school switched to kilts a few years ago but do have trousers as an alternative.
andyb
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by andyb »

Just seen this in our local paper:
http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/92 ... an_skirts/

I didn't realise it had become such an issue although I had noticed that some girls getting off the bus from the local upper school were wearing little more than belts :shock: .
Snowdrops
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Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Snowdrops »

One school here in Harrogate banned skirts for girls a year or so ago (could be longer, time flies by so quickly :shock: ). I said then, and I say now, it shows poor management skills. If you cannot crack down and have the skirts at a decent length, what hope is there for the 'real' issues? (bullying etc).

I remember when I was at school girls weren't allowed to wear trouser, how short the skirts were then!! My how times have changed :roll:

I just see my dd's, and other schools, who are perfectly able to manage skirt lengths. There's no doubting there is always a few who try to flout the rules, but they're soon cracked down on. Same as the school shoes, only certain types are allowed, and they stick to it. If they can do it, why can't all schools? (see about comment, re: poor management skills).
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scarlett
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Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by scarlett »

At the school my DS will be starting at , apparently they are very strict on uniform and the boys carry a card around and given a black mark if their shirt is hanging out etc.( Ds2 has reliably informed DS1 that the black mark is given to you on your body , rather like The Black Spot :shock: ) Anyway, why ban skirts ? Why can't the girls just get a black mark if seen in school with their skirts higher then they should be. Looking at some of the girls, I think they just need a brave person to tell them they just don't have the legs ( or bottom) for a very short skirt.That should do the trick.


It's not just the girls...Dh came home with a photo on his phone of a primary school teacher out with a class of 5 year olds with a skirt practically showing her knickers and a very low cut top.Why did the head not tell her it was inappropriate ? ( Dh isn't some perv, by the way..he just couldn't believe it, and thought I would find it funny. :? )
Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Daogroupie »

I too am puzzled as to why schools are unable to control the length of a girls skirt. I also find it bizarre when I see teachers and teaching assistants in flip flops and short skirts and low cut tops. It seems to be more of a problem when there is no female in the senior management team, the latest comment from the Ipswich High School was from a male head. Perhaps they just feel they are wasting too much of their time on this issue. The trashy garb of some of the girls was one of my biggest disappointments when dd started Year 7. I cannot understand why their parents allow them to go to school looking like that. Why work so hard to get your dc into the school and then allow them to let themselves down so badly when they get there. I know the argument that they leave home looking smart and then change when they get to school but is it really the case that parents have no idea this is happening? Is the class photo not some sort of clue? I find it really sad that so many girls are focused on their appearance and not on the wonderful opportunities that surround them. Is this more of a problem in a mixed school than a girls school I wonder? DG
Sally-Anne
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Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by Sally-Anne »

I think the problem is two-fold. Firstly, girls are hitching their skirts up on the way to and from school, something that the schools cannot control but creates a poor impression. Secondly, the problem is much more extreme than it used to be. Yes, I hitched my skirt up like everyone else, but at least you could still see that I was wearing one! The girls at local schools hitch their skirts up so far that you can't see them below their blazer at all, and I recently saw one girl whose skirt was so short that I could see her knickers as she walked down the street.

The bizarre thing is that the boys seem to find it all rather silly, and sometimes even unpleasant when the girls aren't wearing presentable knickers!
mad?
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Location: london

Re: Ban on Skirts for girls is gathering momentum.

Post by mad? »

Daogroupie wrote:Is this more of a problem in a mixed school than a girls school I wonder? DG
I suspect not. The 'problem' exists in our area across non selective state and selective indie co-ed and all girls or all boys schools. In my experience most parents and most kids are happy to abide by the rules but it is the few who spoil it for the many. Kids want to 'follow' the pack at their age and some parents appear to think it is an infringement of their DCs' rights and an example of hte nanny state to have to abide by rules which were made clear to them on application. These parents are also the ones whose children can do no wrong and who are up the school to conmplain when little henrietta ponsonby people carrier is reprimanded for being a vile (insert appropriate insult). That said, there is a life lesson for DC to learn not being a lemming, although it is a shame that the schools appear powerless to address the issue. I have on occassion pointed out to my 14 year old that 'it is against school rules to do dadidadidada only to get back at me that 'yes but it is against the school rules for girls to shorten their skirts and wear make up but that 'everyone does'.' It would be nice at times to feel that I was not alone in trying to get my kids to understand that actually in many cases they do not have freedom of choice, not now nor in even more so not in the future, and to feel that the threat of 'authority' existed. I shall shortly start my increasingly common rant about responsibilities so will stop now. That said, the woeful choice of dress of the teenagers at DCs' school is not my biggest disappointment and, with a 12 and 14 year old I am learning not to sweat the small stuff. (I am I am I am...next time I might even be able to restrain myself until page 3 of the thread!)
:D
mad?
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