Scottish Preparatory Schools: Uniform Garments
Figure 1.-- Perhaps the most important farment is the jumper or sweater. This is the case because it is often chilly. But perhaps even more important is that the wearher is so variable in Scotland. Rainy days can often turn into sunny days and visa versa. And the change can occur more than once during the day. The jumper is a garment the boys can put on or take off in line with the vageries of the weather. Grey shirts are also very common. Notice on this warm June day many boys have taken off their jumpers.
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Scottish school uniforms are quite similar to English school uniforms. Boys in Scotland wear the same basic garments as worn in England. The destinctive garments used to be caps and blazers in England, but this is today less true. The caps are no longer very common and blazers are less important. Perhaps the most important garment is the jumper or sweater. This is the case because it is often chilly. But perhaps even more important is that the wearher is so variable in Scotland. Rainy days can often turn into sunny days and visa versa. And the change can occur more than once during the day. The jumper is a garment the boys can put on or take off in line with the vageries of the weather. Grey shirts are also very common, some of which are made with blended fabrics a little heavier than standard shirts. The only destinctive garments worn in Scottish schools is the kilt. Scottish boys normally wear trousers as in England, but quite a few have blue shorts. Some Scottish boys wear kilts to school. The kilt is of course strongly associated with Scotland, a kind of national dress even though it is not commonly worn. And the kilt is not very common at Scottish schools as well. The kilt is now primarily a dress outfits, in part because of the cost of kilts. The children wear kilts for special occassions and church on Sunday. Boys at Scottish schools mostly wear black long or grey long and short trousers. A few schools have blue shorts as well.
Caps
Scottish school uniforms are quite similar to English school uniforms. Boys in Scotland wear the same basic garments as worn in England. The destinctive garments used to be caps and blazers in England, but this is today less true. The caps are no longer very common.
Blazers
Blazers are less important than they once wrere.
Jumper is the word commonly used for sweaters in Scotland. The school jumper is a ubiquitous site at all Scottish schools, even schools without uniforms. Perhaps the most important garment worn at Scottish schools is the jumper or sweater. This is the case because it is often chilly. But perhaps even more important is that the wearher is so variable in Scotland. Rainy days can often turn into sunny days and visa versa. And the change can occur more than once during the day. The jumper is a garment the boys can put on or take off in line with the vageries of the weather. It is commonly worn in the summer and is almost alwats worn in the winter term. The most common jumper is the pullover, grey long-sleeve jumper with a V-opening. Plain grey sweaters are very common. Grey was not, however, the only color for jumpers. Private schools commonly had sweaters with trim in the school colors. This was most common at the V-opening, but sometimes at the ciff or waistline as well. This was less common at state schools.
Ties
Ties as in England were part of the school uniform at most Scottish schools. The styles and conventions were similar to England. Usually the ties were two color diagonally striped that matched the caps (if still worn) and blazers. A few schools did not require ties, at least during the regular school day. These were almost all boarding schools. All schools required ties with the dress uniform. A few boarding schools did not require the younger boys wearing wearing short trousers to wear ties. The older boys wearing long trousers, however, did have o wear ties.
We note only a few different types of shirts at Scottish schools. The standard shirt at a Scottish prep school and many other schools is a long-sleeved grey shirt. Most photographs taken at Scottish schools during a normal school day show the boys wearing grey shorts. Grey is chosen over white because it does not show dirt as much and it is a neytral color that can be worn with colorful school garments like gties and blazers as well as grey items like jumpers and trousers. Grey shirts come in a range of fabrics. Some of the blended fabrics are a little heavier than standard shirts. We also see white shirts. Sometimes these are only for special occassions, but some boys wear for everyday. Perhaps they prefer the white shorts or a clean grey shirt was not available. A few schools had white shirts whiich the boys wore for everyday, but this was not very common. Rules about the shorts varied from school to school. We did not see the more colorful short-sleeved shirts that some schools in England had adopted.
Kilts
The only destinctive garments worn in Scottish schools is of course the kilt. Some Scottish boys wear kilts to school. The kilt is of course strongly associated with Scotland, a kind of national dress even though it is not commonly worn. And the kilt is not very common at Scottish schools as well. The kilt is now primarily a dress outfits, in part because of the cost of kilts. The children wear kilts for special occassions and church on Sunday.
Scottish boys normally wore trousers as in England. Kilts were not widely worn except for special occassions. Boys at Scottish schools mostly wear black long or grey long and short trousers. While the long trousers can be either grey or black, the shorts were usuaslly grey. This is the same as in England. There were different shades of grey. Some schoolsere more insitent ion the proper shade of grey than others. At some prep schols all the boys wore shorts. And at other schools all the boys wore long trousers. More commonly the younger boys ore shorts and the older boys long trousers. The same was trure at the academies and senior schools. The rules varied from school to scholl concerning wearing short and long trousers. The boys generally wore grey shorts as was common in England. A few schools had blue shorts as well. At one school the boys wore white shorts for dress up occassions. White long trousers were also worn for cricket. There were some variastion as to fabric. Most schools had trousers dine in Terelyn worsted. One school still had grey flannel shorts. And a few schools had grey corduroy shorts. One school had blue cords.
The hosiery wirn at English and Scottish schools as far as we can tell is very similar. We see boys wearing both ankle socks and knee socks. Knee socks are probably somewhat more common among the boys weraring short trousers than in England, primarily because of the somewhat cooler wreather. We saw fewer boys wearing shorts with ankle sicks than in England. Rhe most notable difference, however, is the brightly colored knee socks worn at scome schools. Most English boys wore grey knee socks, with a few exceptions. And the exceptions were other muted colors like beige and dark blue. Several Scottish schools, however, had uniforms wsith brightly colored knee socks like royal blue, maroon, purple, and red. This we never saw in England, at least with the standard uniform. We did see brightly colored knee socks for sports in England, but not as part of the standard uniform. The schools we saw with the brightly colored knee socks were all private schools. We do not know for a fact that no state school had them, but we never saw any.
Scottish boys as in England wore a variety of footwear to school. The trends are very similar to those in England. We see both sandals and leather shoes to school, mostly black shoes. We note different styles of leather shoes. Here the basic approach was to set the color for the uniform, but the actual style as long as they were low-cut shoes was up to the parents. Boots were not allowed. But we see both lace-up and slip on shoes, almost always black shoes. Sandals seemed less common than in England and worn by younger boys. They were, howevet, worn at many prep schols. They were usually an optional choice. The scholls tended to be flexible as to the style as long as they were closed-toe sandals. We note both single and double-bar sandals, but the single bat, "T" strap sandal was the most common. And unlike shoes the color of sandalsas not an issue. We are not precisely sure why. Plimsols were worn for gym. Trainers were worn for sport, but not as part of the uniform. Some boys put them on for the morning break or lunch break so as not to scuff up their shoes. The schools usually let the boys wear whatever trainsers they wanted.
Gym Suits
Coats
Book Satchels
