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Another HBC reader, Stephen, tells us about the girls' uniform at the comprehensive in a mining area that he and his sister attended during the 1970s. He tells us, "I found your website interesting. It reminds me of my cub scout uniform from the early 1970s and being one of the last boys in shorts at my junior school I can empathise with some of your contributors, although thankfully I was only 9 when was last made to wear shorts by my parents! Your girls section is a bit thin on the ground so I thought I would send you this contribution about the girls at the comprehensive school my sister and I attended. Hope you find it interesting.
I was a boy growing up in a mining area in North East England in the 1970's with my sister who was two years older. We both attended the same comprehensive school, which about 10 years previously had been a secondary modern. The uniform was fairly typical of the time and consisted of a black blazer, shirt/blouse with tie, jumper or cardigan, with trousers or skirts. The school did not specify a particular supplier for the uniform; it was simply up to the parents to purchase clothing that matched the description.
The only specific items were the tie, and blazer badge (which had to be hand sewn on to the front pocket) which were sold by a haberdashery shop in the town centre. The shirts/blouses could be white, blue, or grey, with trousers (which girls were also allowed to wear),skirts and jumpers in black, grey or blue. As you can see there was quite a degree of variation in what the
pupils could wear. When I joined the school as a first former in 1976 my uniform came from the Littlewoods catalogue. My mother ordered the items from the 1976 Spring/Summer edition rather than the later Autumn/Winter catalogue because the prices were lower. The clothes were durable, but not particularly stylish and the polyester blazer looked cheap. Other pupils in my first year class had much better quality blazers bought from school wear shops or Marks and Spencer.
Female fashions at the time were flared skirts that were worn well below the knee. It was only unfashionable girls who tended to wear their skirts knee length or slightly above. Mini skirts weren’t generally worn in the second part of the 1970s and didn’t make a comeback until about 1980. When I was in the first form it was the younger girls who tended to wear their skirts slightly shorter probably due to parents buying their first secondary school skirt from school outfitters rather than fashion chains. I noticed the school skirts sold in the later Autumn/Winter Littlewoods catalogue were longer reflecting the change in fashion.
My sister had gone to a different school for her first year and had worn a very traditional uniform with a knee length grey skirt and white knee socks. At the new secondary school it was only the younger girls who wore socks and by the second year most were wearing tights. When my sister joined the school as a second year in a matter of days she had switched to tights (to the disappointment of my mother) and changed into a fashionable skirt.
As I said the lack of a nominated uniform supplier and specific guidelines meant there was great variety in interpretations of the school uniform. You could still see which children had wealthy or fashionable parents. It was not such an issue for the boys, but definitely for the girls; you had second year girls wearing fashionable skirts with tights and shoes with heels, while other girls had to put up with a traditional knee length school skirt, white socks and strap shoes. I always wonder how those girls felt about their clothes. From a boy’s prospective an older girl in socks was usually overlooked as a potential girlfriend. I suppose that’s what her parents intended.
Two girls I will mention.
One was a younger sister of my friend of my sister. She came from a strict Jehovah’s Witness family with old fashioned parents. Diane wore a grey knee length pleated skirt, white socks and black lace up shoes right up until she left at the end of the fifth year. When she was made a prefect in her final year she struggled to exert her authority on the younger pupils. I don’t think her dress sense would have helped.
Another girl was taught by my mother who was a teacher at the school for pupils who needed remedial help. By the fifth form she was the only girl in her year still wearing white knee socks. It was noticeable she never mixed with pupils in her own year but her much younger siblings and their friends. My mother explained she only had a mental age of an eight year old and implied it was probably for the best she was dressed like a much younger girl.
By the time I left the school at the end of the sixth form in 1983, skirt lengths were no longer a fashion issue with females wearing what they felt comfortable in, and hosiery no longer directly linked to age. I guess what happened to females with their clothing was similar to what happened to to boys back in the 1960s and short trousers
Stephen. E-mail message (October 15. 2010).
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