In other threads on this forum members have mentioned the price of school uniform. In some cases it prevented a child from taking up a place at grammar school. This newspaper extract shows just how pricey it could be. And I know from my own school there were several other items not listed in the article too.
We were fortunate in that both parents worked, so affording a uniform was manageable. I think mum also used the Provident to buy some items. Once kitted out (which must have taken weeks) I was ready to attend Marsh Hill Girls GrammarTech. Not all items were bought in advance and certain items could be bought from the school, no doubt at a discounted price as I expect the school would have bought in bulk. My hockey stick and hockey boots were bought from the school. I suppose they saw this as an encouragement and an investment in the school’s success.
We could make summer dresses in needlework classes - the regulation material was bought in school. Some parents made their daughter’s dance tunics too. My mum also knitted my cardigans. The pattern was provided by school and the wool was a specific make and shade of blue. Mum ordered this from the local wool shop. You could buy a pump bag, but I think home-made ones were also allowed.
There were stockings too - dreadful grey things - before tights came onto the scene. These could be bought at regular shops but they had to be grey ribbed. Shoes were just flat black ones, no heels. I think originally they were supposed to be lace-ups.
Beret in winter, straw boater in summer. The boater was a scratchy old thing. Boaters went out of use in the years after I joined the school.
The gabardine mac was royal blue. The blazer was dark navy wool. (Remember the smell of a new,wool blazer ?) Not like the washable, polyester ones they have today. We had to sew the school badge onto its pocket - didn’t come already sewn on. Blouses were open neck pale blue ones, so no tie required. Skirts were box pleated, and when new the pleats had a tendency to taper in towards the hemline until you’d worn them for a good while. They also came up long on me so much rolling up and down required, depending on the hemline fashion at the time and on whether you were entering school or going home ! But of course, the more uniform you had, the more name labels you had to sew on.
For PE/hockey/netball/athletics you needed a PE skirt and 2 Airtex shirts; one in pale blue for the school, the other in the house colour (mine was pale green for Worcester House). The PE skirt was like a very short kilt. For swimming you needed a swimming costume and cap. Hated those rubber swimming caps. They never kept the hair dry. For dance you needed a dance tunic.
For science you needed a heavy cotton royal blue crossover overall. Always larger than they needed to be but covered the uniform underneath and most of the leg.
Calculators and computers didn’t exist. But you were expected to have a geometry set, ruler and exercise book with the times tables on the back.
Viv.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
We were fortunate in that both parents worked, so affording a uniform was manageable. I think mum also used the Provident to buy some items. Once kitted out (which must have taken weeks) I was ready to attend Marsh Hill Girls GrammarTech. Not all items were bought in advance and certain items could be bought from the school, no doubt at a discounted price as I expect the school would have bought in bulk. My hockey stick and hockey boots were bought from the school. I suppose they saw this as an encouragement and an investment in the school’s success.
We could make summer dresses in needlework classes - the regulation material was bought in school. Some parents made their daughter’s dance tunics too. My mum also knitted my cardigans. The pattern was provided by school and the wool was a specific make and shade of blue. Mum ordered this from the local wool shop. You could buy a pump bag, but I think home-made ones were also allowed.
There were stockings too - dreadful grey things - before tights came onto the scene. These could be bought at regular shops but they had to be grey ribbed. Shoes were just flat black ones, no heels. I think originally they were supposed to be lace-ups.
Beret in winter, straw boater in summer. The boater was a scratchy old thing. Boaters went out of use in the years after I joined the school.
The gabardine mac was royal blue. The blazer was dark navy wool. (Remember the smell of a new,wool blazer ?) Not like the washable, polyester ones they have today. We had to sew the school badge onto its pocket - didn’t come already sewn on. Blouses were open neck pale blue ones, so no tie required. Skirts were box pleated, and when new the pleats had a tendency to taper in towards the hemline until you’d worn them for a good while. They also came up long on me so much rolling up and down required, depending on the hemline fashion at the time and on whether you were entering school or going home ! But of course, the more uniform you had, the more name labels you had to sew on.
For PE/hockey/netball/athletics you needed a PE skirt and 2 Airtex shirts; one in pale blue for the school, the other in the house colour (mine was pale green for Worcester House). The PE skirt was like a very short kilt. For swimming you needed a swimming costume and cap. Hated those rubber swimming caps. They never kept the hair dry. For dance you needed a dance tunic.
For science you needed a heavy cotton royal blue crossover overall. Always larger than they needed to be but covered the uniform underneath and most of the leg.
Calculators and computers didn’t exist. But you were expected to have a geometry set, ruler and exercise book with the times tables on the back.
Viv.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
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