Figure 1.--.

The private schools in Adelaide have always had a typical school uniform similar in appearance to the English uniforms. The students who wear the uniforms can be divided into two groups: 1) Junior students (aged 5 to 12 years old) and 2) Senior students (aged 13 to 18 years old.

Junior students

The Junior students, depending on which school (aka College) they attend, might wear a uniform of blazer, pullover, shirt, tie, shorts and long socks.

Blazer

Most private schools request a blazer for part of the uniform. These always use the schools colours ranging through...Black, Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Brown and Maroon. They can be of a solid colour or a solid colour with braiding attached to the sleeves, collar and pockets. Their are some schools in different parts of Australia that still use a pin striped effect on their blazers. These can be worn all year round. One or two schools still have a grey jacket similar in colour to the winter shorts which effectively turns them into a short trouser suit.

Pullover

These can range in colour from the typical grey through to blue in different shades, green and brown. In most cases, the coloured jumpers are of a solid colour. If the jumpers are grey, they usually have stripes on the V neck and sleeve cuffs matching the colour of the school.

Shirt

The shirt could be one of many colours ranging from white through to blue. I have seen several different colours, including: White, Blue (It may be a solid blue or could take the form of a pinstripe on a white background), Green (Similar to above), Grey, Yellow, Beige, and Khaki. The shirts can have either short sleeves or long sleeves. The short sleeves are usually worn as the summer uniform minus the tie. Some of the schools have what they call a Jac shirt for summer wear. This is similar in appearance to the shirts you tuck into your trousers with the only difference being a tailored waistband made from the same material as the shirts and is worn outside the trousers. It gives a very smart look to the uniform. It also looks more comfortable for the boys to wear. The long sleeve shirts are used with the winter uniform, although some schools allow them to be worn all year round. All schools that I know of request a tie to be worn with these shirts. They are usually made from the same material as the short sleeved shirts. There are some exceptions to this. Some schools have a different colour for their summer shirt (typically khaki) compared to their winter shirt.

Tie

All private schools wear a tie. There will be an exception to this rule when summer uniform is worn. Here the students must wear their shirts with an open collar. The ties vary from solid colours to stripes of two or three colours.

Pants

The shorts worn by junior students are usually the grey winter shorts with a lining. Some schools require these to be worn all year round with both winter and summer uniform. There are some schools that allow shorts made from a lighter weight material with no lining for the summer uniform. When I arrived in Australia in 1967 the shorts typically were long enough to reach halfway down the boys thighs, but today, it is not unusual to see the boys with shorts reaching down to their knees. Invariably, most of the shorts are grey in colour, especially for winter, but some have changed to either blue or khaki for summer wear.

Long socks

The winter uniform is always worn with long socks. They are typically grey and could have the school colours forming stripes on the turnover. When it comes to the summer uniform, they can in some schools adapt ankle socks of plain grey or even do away with the socks and let the students wear sandals.

Senior students

The uniform for the senior students is much the same as for the junior students but replace the shorts with long trousers. In the summer, they can wear shorts with the summer uniform made from similar material to the long trousers. Some schools in the summer have a completely different uniform i.e., they wear khaki shirts and shorts with either khaki socks or grey socks with the schools colours in the form of bands around the turnover. It is interesting to note the change fashion having an impact on the school uniforms. In the 1960s and 70s the shorts would have been very brief and would not have covered too much of the leg. Nowadays, the shorts are similar to the casual shorts they wear, long and baggy with plenty of room to move. it is interesting to note that the schools request that the shorts reach no further down the leg than the knees. Because of the bagginess of the shorts, this sometimes is impossible for the students to adhere to with most of them finishing below the knee. Because of Australia's hot weather, the shorts must be a welcome addition to the summer uniform for most boys, but it is not unusual to see a complete school still wearing long trousers throughout the year. Is this peer pressure that dictates what the students will wear?

Created: January 24, 2004
Last updated: January 24, 2004