Figure 1.--These Orish private prep school children wear their traditionally styled school uniform. They have collected money for the World Wildlife Fund.

By the early 70's many 14 year old boys still wore short pants to senior school. This had died out completely by the mid 70's. The school photograph albums record the changes to the year. By the 1970s it was becoming less common for older boys to wear short pants school uniforms or wear caps. Few other changes, however, occurred in school uniforms.

HBC observed only a few Irish boys wearing school shorts in the 1980s, during an admitedly brief visit. This appeared to be the general pattern in state schools. Many private schools, however, continued to have traditional uniforms. One Irish observer in the 1990s, however, reports that it is still normal practise for junior school boys at private schools to wear short pants and coloured blazers up to the age of 11 or 12. In some schools, especially city schools, only younger boys wear shorts--up to about 9 in the cities.

One HBC reader reports that a common trend at schools in the 1990s was for the school blazer to be replaced with a grey jumper or pullover with a school badge.

Created: March 18, 2000
Last updated: July 21, 2001