Figure 1.--Here wec see boys wearing their blazers during the school day, in this case during gym class. They are waiting to bat in a game of rounders. |
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At boarding schools you usually do not see the blazer at all as they are put away for special occassions. Here the goal was to keep them for good. The blazer is more prominately worn at day schools where children may wear them during the day, depending on the school rules. Some day schools had the children hang up their blazers until time to go home to protect them. This was actually more common for day boys at boarding schools. Other day schools let the children decide, rather lie the common approch to jumpers. Here the blazers tended to get some hard wear. We noted boys playing games in their blazers during morning break and the lunch break. (At boarding schools there usually was no lunch break, but rather a short rest period for the children to lie down on their beds.) We even noted boys wearing their blazers during gym. Here a factor was the weather. The boys were more likely to wear their blazers on a chilly day.
Wehther the chikdren wore their blazers during the school day had a lot to do with the type of school they attended. Generally the boys at boarding schools did not wear their blazrets. At day schools many boys did wear them, but this was generally up the ikndivisual.Many boarding schools had the boys put away their blazers.
At boarding schools you usually do not see the blazer at all as they are put away for special occassions. In fact most boarding schools had the children put away their blazers and either told the children not to wear them or restricted theur use. For the most part the children had no trouble with this as they tended to see the blazer as a bit of a nusance. Here the goal was to keep the the blazers or suit jackets for good. Thus very rarey seens the school blazers at the boarding schools, except for the day children when coming and going, traveling sports teams, or some special event. There were differences from school school, but this was a very common convention.
The blazer is more prominately worn at day schools. Here the conventions were more varied then st the boarding schools. Many schools used to require boys wear blazers during the school day. This is now much less common. Formality varies a great deal from school to school as well as seasonally. Most day schools require boys to come to school wearing their blazers and ties and caps if they still have them. Once at school, most schools allowed the children to decided if they wanted to wear their blazer. Some schools had the boys hang up their blazers or suit jackets until the end of the school day to protect them, but most schools left it up to the individual boy. The day schools were wear the children could wear them during the day, depending on the school rules. Protecting the blazer was actually more common for day boys at boarding schools. Letting the children decide was the same basic approach as taken with jumpers. Here the blazers tended to get some hard wear. We noted boys playing games in their blazers during morning break and the lunch break. You almost never see boys wearing their blazers for morning break at boarding schools. (At boarding schools there usually was no lunch break, but rather a short rwst period for the children to lie down on their beds.) We even noted boys wearing their blazers during gym. Here a factor was the weather. The boys were more likely to wear their blazers on a chilly day. Seasonality was another factor. Quite a few schools adopt casual uniforms during the summer term and in some cases blazers are not even worn to school.
There were some special events that chsnged the normal uniform rules. The children may dress up if an important visitor is coming to school. This was not very common. The boys may put on their blazers for chapel. And events where they left the school grounds usually meant putting on blazers. This was almost always the case for field trips, although we notice this is no longer always the case now. We note schools using public facilities for sports. Sone city schools fid not have sports field or adequate sports fields. Or they did not have pools for swimming lessons. Here the rules were more varied. The schools also had been fixtures with other schools for sports. Here there was a very string conventions. When visting another school, the children almost alwats wore their blazers. This was the case iregardless of the type of school. Both boardees and day school boys wire their v\blazers when vistibng another school.
