The History of School Uniform

The inclusion in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (2024) of new measures designed to ensure school uniforms are affordable to all families has once again brought into focus one of the issues most talked about at the school gates over recent decades.

From September 2026, primary schools will be restricted to a maximum of three branded items of uniform that they can require children to wear, and secondary schools have been given a maximum of four if they require their students to wear a branded tie.

This bill continues the direction of travel set out in the Guidance about the Costs of School Uniform Act (2021), which directed schools to consider ways of ensuring uniforms were affordable for all and included removing the right of schools to insist parents only purchase uniform from a particular supplier.

During my time in teaching, the relationship between home and school when it came to uniform standards and expectations was always a tricky one, but I wonder if that has always been the case. After my previous 'deep dive' into the school register, in this post I am going to look back at the way that school uniforms have changed since they were first introduced into school to see if things have really changed that much.

For the purposes of this post, I am going to ignore the first reference to school uniforms, which was made in 1222 when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that all students should wear a robe called a 'cappa clausa' for studying, and I am also going to ignore, for the most part, the odd traditions of our best-known private schools. Instead I am going to focus on 'normal' schools, as I feel that this approach tells a more realistic and relatable story.

We are going to start our journey in the 'Charity Schools', which were established in the 17th century. Charity schools were usually linked to the church, but they were supported by private donations. They were set up to offer education to children whose families could not afford to send them to fee-paying schools. As well as an education, the children at these schools were given a 'uniform' to wear. Many of these uniforms were modelled on the first Charity school, Christ's Hospital, whose children wore blue coats and yellow stockings. This gave rise to the term 'Blue Coat Schools', but there were uniform variations that resulted in schools that were grey, green, and brown coated too. It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century there were around 1600 charity schools in the UK. Some schools retain their Charity school name, even now, such as The Blue School in Wells, which is the largest secondary school in Somerset and was once a Blue Coat School. 

Education became compulsory and free for all in 1870, as an attempt to counter the issue of child labour in the UK, but at that time uniforms were not compulsory in what were now called elementary schools. Grammar schools did require pupils to wear uniforms, which was intended by the schools to create an identity that was removed from the 'board schools' that were attended by working-class children, and it is from these schools, and from the move to a more 'uniformed' society, that the growth of uniforms in elementary schools began. The elementary system changed to the more familiar primary and secondary system in 1944, but it was not until after the Second World War that uniforms began to become compulsory in primary schools.

Short trousers started to become popular for boys in the 1920s, but by the 1960s the wearing of them was only required by the youngest boys, and it eventually ceased to be an expectation altogether. Rules about wearing shorts were usually linked to height or age, once a pupil reached the threshold they transitioned into long trousers. In schools where height was the determining factor I dread to think the effect this had on the smaller boys entering secondary school. Interestingly, in current times, where the wearing of shorts is perhaps more popular than ever, many boys in primary schools enthusiastically wear them right up to the end of year six, as the element of choice disappears completely for them in secondary school. Early formal uniforms for girls developed later than for boys and were derived from the 'gymslip' that would have been worn for physical education sessions.

As the UK developed into a more multicultural society in the 1960s and beyond, new challenges arose regarding the balance between religious beliefs and the conformity directed by school uniforms. Sadly, tolerance and acceptance were very slow to develop in schools. As late as 2006, a UK school won its appeal at the House of Lords after being initially told that it had unlawfully excluded a Muslim pupil for wearing a traditional jilbab. Even more shockingly, legislation regarding hair discrimination, which primarily affected pupils from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, only came into play in 2023. This followed incidents such as the one in 2018 where a pupil was sent home from school because her hair was 'too big.'

There have been other significant challenges to uniforms in recent years following trends that were adopted by pupils, such as the 'JoJo bows' that became popular following the rise of Youtuber Jo Jo Siwa in the mid-2010s. A number of schools took a hard line on the wearing of these bows and as a result gained less than positive publicity for their uniform policy.

High profile cases of boys rebelling against having to wear long trousers in secondary schools during hot weather have also hit the media in recent years. It is encouraging to see from reports of these incidents that a change in policy often results from protests made, although only in more moderate settings.

The rise of the academy system, and of multi academy trusts, since the start of the new century seems to have created more settings which absolutely cannot be described as moderate when it comes to school uniform expectations. When I was in secondary school back in the 1980s we were aware of something called 'school pride' and were warned to keep our ties on until we got home, but that was about it. Nowadays it seems that the drive to improve educational standards in some schools has been linked to improving the way that the pupils dress and present themselves, and that some are taking the lead from the private school system. We have reached the point now where the school run by 'Britain's strictest Head Teacher' states in its uniform policy that it expects pupils to polish their shoes at least weekly and shower daily! Schools such as this one appear to be painting themselves as the saviours of the working class, but by trying to fix a societal 'problem' they are bound to fail. My suggestion for schools like this would be that they could learn from watching the TV series 'The Simpsons', which has been capturing humanity in all its forms since 1989. In an episode from 1996 titled 'Team Homer' they took a shot at school uniforms when, as a result of Bart's behaviour, the principle of his school introduces a strict school uniform code for the pupils. After a short while the children lose their individuality, even resorting to blinking in unison in a memorable scene, until the rain washes away the grey dye on the uniforms and brings back the spirit of the children. 

As well as the misguided view that school uniforms raise pupil attainment, proponents also argue that they reduce bullying. I would argue though that children find much more creative ways of bullying each other than focusing on clothing, so I can't help feeling that this is untrue.

Reading this blog you  might get the impression that I am against the wearing of school uniform, but that is not the case. I am all for a bit of 'school pride', I just feel that we need to keep things in perspective as there are more important things we should be putting our time into. It is worth noting that data shows only 90% of schools in the UK require their pupils to wear a uniform, and it is the case that some of these schools are in economically deprived areas. I am sure that they are as concerned as all schools about raising standards, and yet they have not linked this to school uniform, which adds further to my distrust of the schools who have.

In December 2023, the last conservative government (and I suspect the last for a while!) published 'Draft Guidance for Gender Questioning Children', which included references to school uniform. As you would suspect, the guidance is very 'conservative' in tone, and quite concerning at times, giving schools an 'opt out' by stating that there is "no general duty that says schools and colleges must support a child to take steps that are part of 'social transition'"

The guidance also allows schools to take a hard line by setting "different uniforms for boys and girls" although it also suggests, rather than encourages, that schools might "agree to some flexibility" and it acknowledges many schools already have a unisex uniform policy.

It is clear that this guidance is not going to stand the test of time. Unisex uniform is an overly simplistic suggestion as a solution as that will annoy all pupils who wish to wear the uniform of the gender that they identify as, whether they have transitioned or not. One would hope that the new Labour government will update this guidance imminently, and that it will be regularly reviewed as we move forward.

I am sure that, although the focus of the debate will change, school uniform will continue to be a hot topic for the foreseeable future, and beyond.