Figure 1.--The boys here wear their Winter uniforms. They wear jackets on a sunny Winter day in Auckland. Some schools had blazers, but quite a number of schools had more indormal uniorms like these jackets.
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Figure 1.--The boys here wear their Winter uniforms. They wear jackets on a sunny Winter day in Auckland. Some schools had blazers, but quite a number of schools had more indormal uniorms like these jackets. |
Most New Zealand schools with uniforms have seasonal uniforms. There are different uniforms for summer and winter wear. It never gets bitter cold in New Zealand, but there are notable seasonal differences, especially on South Island. The seasonal uniforms vary widely fom school to school. The most common Summer uniform were matching grey cotton short-sleeve shirts and sshort pants, often wrn with Roman sandals. Winter uniforms might consist of a a heavier long-sleeve shirt and heavier shorts with kneesocks or long pants. While this uniform was worn at many schools, there was a wide variety of other garments and variaions at different schools. Some items like the sweater might be worn both as part of the Summor Winter uniform. Schools normally set a specific date when the uniform shift takes place.
New Aealand is the southernmost of the South Pacific Islands. It is, however a country composed of two islands located north and south of each other and thus called North and South Island. There are considerable climatic differences between the two islands. On the northrn part of North Island the climate is almost tropical. On the southern part of South Island there is a highly temperate climate with glasiers and occasional snow in the winter. The primariy factor affecting the climate is the north/south location. There are, however, other factors such as elevation ans location near the mountain chain running north and south through the two islands. These seasonal factors affect the uniforms adopted by the various schools on New zealand.
Winter uniforms in New Zealand tend to be most formal uniforms, usually the most similar to traditional English styles. The winter uniform generally consists of a tie, sweater (jumper), grey shirt, heavy-weight grey or blue shorts, knee socks, and black lace-up shoes. Boys may wear heavier weight shorts in the winter. Some schools permit long pants, especially for the older boys. The sweater in particular is a good indication of a winter uniform. Jackets and sweaters are usually optional and might even be worn on cooler or rainy summer days. Most schools have a blended pair of grey short pants for winter wear. Schools with blue shorts are less likely to change the uniform for some reason. The kneesocks were mostly grey with top bands in the school colors. Some schools had black and light-blue kneesocks. Some New Zealand schools also have suits and blazers worn during the winter, but this is most common at private schools. There were, however, some state schools that had such formal uniforms.
The school seen here is a state school on South Island. The boys wear grey short suits during the winter (figure 1). Girls may wear heavier dresses or often wool kilts in the winter.
The summer uniform at many schools commonly consists of a light-weight grey shirt, grey cotton shorts, and Roman sandals worn without socks. Often the wearing of a tie is suspended. This is the most common uniform worn at numerous schools during the summer. We also notice blue shirts and shorts at a few schools instead of the more grey summer uniform. It is not always possible to know if a New Zealand school uniform is a summer uniform because short pants were often worn in both the winter and summer, even on South Island. Normally Roman sandals worn without knee socks was almost always a summer uniform. Sandals were not, however, worn during the summer at all schools. The school portrait shown here is is the standard summer schoomuniform worn at many New Zealand schools, grey shirts and shorts worn with Roman sandals without kneesocks (figure 1). The school does not use, however, the more common cotton shorts that matched the shirt.
