School uniforms in England
[citation needed] The first written reference to a uniform for boys was in 1222 when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the "cappa clausa".
It was designed to emphasise the low status of the children, and was based on the clerical cassock and was russet in colour, but was changed after one year to be blue.
Stockport Sunday School was the largest, the teachers were in the main volunteers and attendance was voluntary.
It was influenced by the appearance of uniforms in civilian professions and trades, the growing sobriety of men's fashions, and the emergence of sportswear.
[6] The century opened with the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802 which attempted to ensure children were instructed in reading, writing and religion but it was not effectively policed.
[7] Around 1820, the elite public schools formalised their dress code standardising on what upper class children would have already been wearing.
[8] Younger board school boys generally wore knickerbockers, black woollen stockings, leather boots, white shirts with starched Eton collars and a lounge or Norfolk jacket.
As schools started teaching girls team sports, gymnastics and callisthenics a functional kit evolved.
After the First World War, the old-fashioned knickerbockers gave way to shorts for younger boys, and black stockings and boots were superseded by socks and shoes.
Elementary schools had no formal uniform, younger boys continued to wear comfortable knitted sweaters and flannel shorts.
Older boys would wear a uniform of grey flannel shorts, shirt, tie, blazer and cap.
By the First World War older schoolgirls typically wore a plain tailored calf-length skirt and often a masculine-style shirt and tie.
Parents at schools with strict formal uniform code were battling the governors to relax the rules and follow the example of A. S. Neil at Summerhill and dispense with it, or at least change it into the comfortable sweatshirt and polo shirt with generic grey trousers.
This was an expensive business for the families, the lists set by minor public schools were extensive and the items were not available elsewhere.
The head said in an interview in 2011:[12] "It was unusual even then to be a state school without a uniform, but we felt we were spending far too much time addressing issues of non-compliance.
[13] In 2019 the head teacher of a Norfolk academy, Marshland High School, wrote to parents to explain the reasons for a uniform change.
He stated that they: He had first consulted the parents by letter and in a meeting, The change was rolled out starting with Key Stage 3.
The school then bought one set of the uniform for each child, and offered a future subsidy of 75% to the poorer families through the Learning Support Fund: this addressed concern about affordability.
In 2017 during a heat wave, boys at the Isca Academy wore skirts in protest at not being allowed to wear shorts.
[2] A single average figure has little statistical meaning, but taken as a whole this is a large sum of money for many families, and of course is cumulative.
Several government departments are monitoring the situation [citation needed], Social Services from the point of view of large families poverty and the Office for Fair Trading who sees the uniform suppliers and schools operating an unfair monopoly.
