Our Primary School Uniform (1960s)


Figure 1.--Here is a portait of the children participating in the school Nativity play duriung 1965. It shows both the boys' and girls' uniforms, except that our teacher didn't have us put on our blazers. As you can see, it was taken around Christmas.

We had a strict uniform: cap, blazer, shirt and tie, shorts (grey), gartered socks with green rings around the tops, black shoes even from the earliest years (age 5). Here we see my class portrait in 1965 right before Christmas. I was still in the infants section. It shows both the boys' and girls' uniforms, except that our teacher didn't have us put on our blazers.

Our Uniform

We had a strict uniform: cap, blazer, shirt and tie, shorts (grey), gartered socks with green rings around the tops, black shoes even from the earliest years (age 5). [HBC note: It is interesting that some state schools had elaborate unifoms with blazers and not just private schools.] As you can see it was not just about having the correct uniform but wearing it properly too.It sounds a bit fussy - keeping ties and socks straight and so on and blazers buttoned before we left for home - but that was how a lot of schools were then and I didn't mind too much as long as I was allowed to wear more loose and casual clothes once out of school.

Headwear

Caps must have died out after I was about eight (1967) --I only remember having one when I first started at the school. When we got into school we always left our caps and overcoats (during the Winter) in the cloakroom on our pegs. I didn't like it at all, primarily because I would sometimes forget to take it off when I came indoors and the teachers would get all upset.It was condsidered very rude for a man to wear a hat indoors then and this was being instilled into us as kids. The other thing about headwear - the girls did wear berets to our school and they had the school badge sewn on to them like our caps did - but I don't think that they were ever compulsory. They had to wear them in a certain way (folded and pulled to the side) and we too were supposed to wear our caps straight and not to the side or pushed back.

Blazers

We had plain black blazers.Mum would buy them from one of the big department stores - or it may have been the Co op - not BHS where we normally bought schoolclothes.Then we would get two badges from the school secretary with the school crest on it - one large for the blazer pocket and one much smaller for the cap.Mum would then sew these on.Sometimes they would come off in or get damaged and you could get a new set from the school.When I went to secondary school the school badge was already on the blazer. Most state primary schools didn't have blazers, even the ones requiring uniforms. But ours was a C of. E school and they did often require blazers (as did the catholic schools like my mate Michaels). The funny thing is that we hardly wore our blazers inside the school at all - just going to and coming from it and on school trips and such. We had pegs in the classroom to hang up our blazers. They were always in the classroom and not the cloakroom. They normally stayed there all day until going home time. When I started we had caps too - yet they'd be left down on the peg in the cloakroom. I know that my Mum used to be annoyed at that as it was the most expensive item of school uniform - and she would go absolutely mad if we damaged our blazers in any way as she wanted them to last and be handed down. I know that if I went playing after school I would always take my blazer off! She had to buy three of them - and then we moved so they were all useless as my little broth! er went to a different school. There weren't these "uniform exchanges" in those days - although parents would swap clothes informally. And then there were always jumble sales which is a whole different topic.

Tie

I didn't like the tie either. I had trouble learning how to tie it and although I learnt to do up shoelaces and such quite early unlike some boys I never did get the hang of knotting a tie.Mum always used to do mine for me in the mornings - but I had trouble getting in back on after P.E. or whatever.When I started there were two types of tie.One had green and yellow diagonal stripes and a pointed end - like a standard tie. Some boys though had ties which were square cut and had much thicker horizontal stripes on them - still green and yellow - our school colours.I think that the square cut ties were a much older style and had been passed on by boys who had had much older brothers at the school. By the time I was in the top class you hardly saw these older style ties - I think the rules said then that everyone was to have the new style. We only ever had the new type from day one. I used to get into trouble as I had the habit of sucking on and biting the pointed end when I was concentrating. My Mum got fed up with it fraying and she bought me a tiepin - which I didn't like.We were meant to wear our ties all the way home from school - but as soon as I got far enough away I'd take mine off and stuff it into my pocket. It annoyed me when I had to fiddle about with the tiepin too.Luckily the school barred tiepins for boys as we were taking them off in the playground and sticking them into each other for a laugh. Mum couldn't argue with that - and I'd grown out of sucking on my tie anyway - except when I was really concentrating like when I sat the 11-plus!

Shirts

We wore grey shirts most of the time but white was allowed too and as my older brother always chose (from when I was aware of it) to wear a white shirt I always insisted on wearing a grey one--just to be different! We had to wear white shirts for school trips, carol concerts and so on. I always hated wearing them partly because I found them to be cold - even in the Summer (the grey ones were thick flannel) - and partly because they were "his" (my brothers!). The girls wore frocks in the Summer - but in the Winter they wore gymslips or skirs with blouses. Their blouses were always white (and stayed that way more often than boys' white shirts which could have all sorts on them at the end of the school day from gravy stains to blood if there had been a punch up in the playground. I think that is why Mums preferred boys in grey shirts, the same goes for socks, as they didn't show the dirt so much.I know that I always associated wearing a white shirt as being on your best behaviour and not getting dirty).

Sweaters

We boys wore grey sweaters. They were plain grey "V"-necked sweaters. The were just standard grey sweaters without the colored trim that boys in private school often had and I wore at secondary school. The girls wore navy- blue cardigans. Unlike the other school items they were optional. You could wear or not wear them depending on your own (or mum's) personal preferences.

Trousers

We wore grey school shorts of various styles. I remember objecting to wearing my brother's "hand me down" shorts as at one time (I was about 9). They were too "baggy" in comparison with my friends'.Again by the time I was eleven (1970)the shorts worn by boys at my school were pretty standardised coming from BHS. The school didn't allow corduroy shorts. At least I think that was the case – I never saw any boy wearing them. Some wore thicker type shorts in the Winter and lighter grey cotton ones in Summer but never cords. Some schools might have – but I never saw them in London. I've noted on HBC that some boys wore cord shorts as part of their uniform. I think this was mostly private preparatory schools.

Hosiery

We boys wore grey kneesocks. Ours had green-colored bands at the top. The girls wore white kneesocks. Our Church of Ebgland primary school require boys wear grey kneesocks with olored loops. These school socks were bought at BHS and were grey with two green hoops around the turnover tops (our school colours being green and yellow). Mum bought a lot of our basic school clothes at BHS. They had reasonable prices. At BHS the school socks were laid out in trays and the boys ones were all grey with all of the various coloured hoops around the tops. When we got home we peeled off these labels and then Mum would sew our name labels onto the very top so that they would be hidden. As I think I have told you I preferred wearing my school socks out of school too regardless of what else I was wearing. It was partly because they were familiar and partly because green was my favourite colour so that suited me. The school was strict about keeping the socks pulled up and the tops turned over neatly so the bands were straight. For this we had garters which Mum made. For some reason the girls white socks did not have turn-over-tops and they always seemed to stay up withour garters! They could wear ankle-socks in Summer too which we couldn't.

Footwear

We wore black lace up shoes or brown school sandals in Summer. I commonly wore the sandals. Gilrs wore brown shoes and all sorts of coloured sandals. For wet weather we could arrive at school in Wellington boots - always black - but we had to carry in proper shoes and change into them in the cloakroom

Coats

Coats were an important part of the uniform, not only because of the cold Winter weather, but also because it rained a lot. We all had gaberdine raincoats - girls and boys and in the very cold weather some of us had duffle coats for really cold weather. Many primary schools did not have uniform coats, but our CoE school as I mentioned was much more strict about the uniform than most state schiols. I think that they were the only coats allowed as I don't remember any others. We also had plastic macs, but these were more for play during the Summer than for school.

Book bags

One item I particularly remember was my book satchell. Some of the other boys also had them when I went to primary school. Funnily enough I can't remember the girls having them - or indeed any bag. They usually just had a purse on a leather strap for dinner money. I don't think this was a rule - just a convention. When I started at secondary school I naturally still had my satchell (they were made to last! - and I liked mine anyway).

Other

If we wore gloves or balaclavas in Winter these were always knitted in navy blue wool. We also had scarves in the Winter. We wore standard pull-on plimpsoles for P.E. - our primary school didn't have a gym kit. We did P.E. in our underwear when little or in our normal school shorts and shirts after the age of 9 years or so. The girls did still took off their skirts or frocks for P.E. but we never thought anything of that at that age.

School Policy

When I think about it now, our primary school uniform was even stricter than my secondary school (or more strictly enforced anyway) - which was not the case with most boys at primary school then I think. For instance my little brother didn't wear a uniform at all at his new primary school after we moved, but his secondary school did have a uniform. Again though - it might have been because ours was a Church of England Primary and had a long tradition in the area and reputation to keep up. It could also be to do with changing trends as the 1960s gave way to the 70s - I'm not sure.

Nativity Play Portrait

Here we see the children participating in the school nativity play during 1965. This is not a class portrait, but just those of us participasting in the play, I was still in the infants section at the time.

Nativity play

I came across this picture of me at primary school around Christmas as you can still see some of the decorations we used to put up in the hall. Some of the children are wearing their nativity costumes. They are the "stars" in the Nativity Play (in costume) in front of the "crib" and then all of the rest of us "backing group" - shepherds etc. but we're back in uniform. I could tell you a lot about the nativity plays - and it is to do with clothing I can tell you as it was a big deal for all Mums and us kids. I was a shepherd yet the year before my brother had been chosen to be one of the three kings. That led to some tears I can tell you! - but it was nothing like the problems between the girls about who was to be Mary! Anyway - maybe I should leave that until next Christmas. I have lots of memories about Christmas - the Nativity play, the school Christmas party and going up to my grandparents in Leeds - and clothing plays a part in them all. Something else I should add about the photo is that there are a lot more girls than boys in it. Our classes were split almost evenly between girls and boys - but a lot of the boys were not allowed to be part of the Nativity Play as they wouldn't behave! That's why they are not in the photo. I was o.k. as I was a shepherd and also as I went to Sunday School I was part of the choir. Our school had a choir - but by the time I was 11 years old it was nearly all girls! my Mum tried to make me stay but it was all too much for me as the main girl singer was the one chasing me and I wanted to be with the boys then! Us boys were convinced that the choir was for sissies! Anyway I can tell you more later - it really takes me back thinking about it,

School hall

The main thing it reminds me of is our school hall. You can see how scuffed the floor is - that is because we use to drag out tables for school dinners there and then put them away again as well as P.E. equipment.

Our clothes

I am fourth from the right in the second row - kneeling. You can just about see that that was one of the rare occaisions I wore a white shirt - but I see not all boys did. One thing of interest is the boy seated in the front row second to right. He is wearing white socks which would have been his Mum's choice for the photo - and against school rules - boys always wore grey. He also has a sleeveless jumper which we hated as you couldn't tie them round your waist - maybe that's why he's messed his tie up!. The girls wore navy-blue cardigans and white socks. They didn't have to wear ties all of the time like we did - but many are for the photo. I also see that they were not so strict about boys wearing the uniform socks with the green rings as they were when I was older. Maybe they were harder to obtain then? - as I say BHS started stocking mass produced clothes when I was about 10 years old so then nearly all boys were dressed identically as most Mums bought there. I also see some boys have brown shoes - that was not allowed later - they had to be bl! ack (and polished!) - brown was for sandals in the Summer as the picture of me on the primary school page shows.

Standardisation

When I first started primary school boys would wear all sorts of different clothes that generally fitted the uniform requirements. The schools commonly required grey shirts and shorts, but there were many different styles and shades of grey. The shirts and shorts made by different manufacturers and bought in various shops. The same was true of other items such as jumers and kneesocks. They fitted the bsic uniform requirements but some would have knitted socks or jumpers (which didn't have colours on them - they just had to be grey). Mass production and the big chain stores like BHS getting into school uniforms changed things during the time that I was at primary school. There was a notable stardisation of the uniform items we wore.

Formal Portrait

I have another interesting photo showing a picture I remember hanging in the headmisstresses study. It's shows a boy and a girl in our school uniform and I have a photo of it being presented to the headmisstress on the occaision of the school's centenary - 1959 - before my time but I remember the picture well. It hung in the headmisstress's study behind her desk (we had a new younger headmisstress by then). I recall that as when I was in the headmisstresses study it was normally because I was in trouble and I would be looking at the picture above her head rather than face her and "explain myself"! Anyway the painting shows our school uniform as it still was when I was at the school. The girl is in Summer uniform and as you see they didn't have to wear blazers in Summer - just a cardigan.In Winter they wore gymslips mainly rather than frocks and they didn't always wear ties except for photos and not at all with frocks in the Summer. I used to think it quite natural and didn't see it as unfair even though I hated wearing a tie and could never do it up properly.







HBC





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Created: 8:43 PM 2/24/2005
Last updated: 7:36 PM 8/31/2006