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Many state primary schools adopted uniforms in the 1960s, a trend begun in the 1950s. Uniforms were worn at most secondary schools. Church schools in particular commonly had uniforms. Most were short trouser uniform. Many primay schools, however, did not have uniforms. School sandals were common in primary schools. At grammar schools (academically selective secondary schools) and other secondaru schools, first year boys often wore the uniform with short tousers by the first year boys, but by the end of the decade even the first year boys were wearing long trousers at most schools. Private schools continued to give great attention to uniform. Most preparatory shools had short pants uniforms, but caps were becoming less common. Some schools had cord short. Kneesocks were common, but many boys wore ankle socks in the summer.
A reader writes, "My family came to Canada when I was a very small child (I was born in England) and my older brother attended a preparatory school in South London in the 1960's (I did also, but I was very young). It was called Clare House School and it was located in Beckenham, Kent. At this school, we wore a traditional school uniform of a red blazer with pocket crest, white shirt, red, black and yellow striped tie, grey shorts, grey socks with red tops, red school cap and black shoes. The prefects could wear long trousers. Some pictures are attached, taken in 1960. After we went to Canada in 1969, I started at a private school in Toronto, the Crescent School."
I suppose it might seem a little unbelievable nowadays but in my time at school, late 1950s and early 60s, uniform was a totally constant factor. Certainly at my own boarding school, we had very little in the way of anything else. My own school’s definition of ‘casual clothing’ was the privilege of being allowed to change into Grey Corduroy Shorts, House Shoes (for most of us brown "T"-bar sandals) and to also remove our ties. (This privilege could be withheld as a form of punishment) This form of dress was only acceptable after evening meal and prep and it could only be worn in the dormitory or common rooms, e.g. Games Room. If one wished to go (or was summoned to) another ‘public’ part of the school, then one was obliged to dress properly. Even with the foregoing relaxation, ‘Stockings will remain correctly worn at all times!’ Yes even the pyjamas were of a regulation type as well as the underwear. And the reason I suppose is found in the school uniform regulation which stated, ‘All items of clothing must be clearly labelled with the owners name and be capable of being processed through the school laundry system. Special washing instructions cannot be catered for in any way. To that end it is suggested that only the recommended items of clothing supplied by the official school outfitters be purchased.’
I went to a boys' primary school in the north of England in the 1960s. As far as I can remember, all the boys wore grey short trousers in winter with long grey socks, some with stripes, although the school did not have a uniform. In summer, we all wore short socks, usually khaki in colour, and either retained our grey shorts or put on thinner, khaki-coloured ones. It was a topic of great interest when a boy went into short socks for the first time. It meant summer was on the way and, once one boy had changed, within days the whole school would be wearing short socks. I also remember wearing sandals in the summer. They had a strange, rubberised white sole, which could have been a form of plastic. Very often with these sandals, the strap would break due to the daily doing up and undoing.
I thought you might like a picture of me on my first day at school in England aged 5 in 1960. As You can see the uniform is very typical of the time wearing a cap, blazer, long socks and sandals. I am also enclosing pictures that include me throwing the discus aged 15. In the second picture I am standing watching. You can ignore the swimming picture. The sports wear has not changed much, but the shorts were a little shorter than they are now.
Your site took me back to when I was growing up in the 1960s here in the United Kingdom. The primary school I attended did not have a uniform policy, in fact my awareness about clothing did not really surface until I was about 14-15 years old. At primary school, we all just wore what our parents sent us out in that morning, sometimes it would be T-Shirt and shorts. Sometimes I wore wooly cardigans and horrible stretch trousers with
loops around the foot.
I started school at a Church of England primary school in Kent (South East England) in 1968, at the 5 years of age, and stayed there through to the age of 11. I remember when I started school there was a bizarre muddle over the uniform. As it turned out, the uniform was not compulsort, but many of us wore it. For those who did wear it, the uniform was light grey pullover, white shirt, yellow and blue striped tie, dark grey trousers or shorts,
grey socks and black shoes. For the girls it was similar but with dark grey skirts, and I think they wore white socks. Blazers or caps were not worn. Some boys used to wear their cub-scout uniform to school. For us boys, the vexing question was, of course, whether you wore long or short trousers. There were no school rules about this, so it depended largely on the parents. At the age of 11, I transferred to the local secondary school (boys only), where uniform was compulsory. This was similar to the primary school, but with the addition of a black blazer (including the school emblem on the breast pocket), and the tie was now yellow and black. I can’t remember whether shorts were explicitly forbidden,
but no-one wore them; any boy unfortunate enough to be sent to school in shorts would have been mercilessly mocked.
I thought I would give you some information about the uniform we wore and the regulations and traditions at my boarding school in the 1960s and 1970s. The basic uniform was long grey socks, garters with green and white ribbons, black shorts just above the knee, white shirt and collar, green and white tie, grey v necked jumper. On Sundays, holidays and when playing games against other schools we wore
a black waistcoat and black jacket. When outside we wore a green and white cap, also a green and white scarf. The coat was a black belted rain coat which came down to the knees. Our shoes were black "slip ons" indoors and we changed to lace ups each time we went outside.
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