Schools have differed greatly from country to country and over time in the required uniform pants. Scottish school uniforms and regulations through the 1950s were much like British styles, except the dress uniform at most private Scottish schools is a tweed jacket and kilt.

Early 1900s

Catholic Secondary School (LAWSIDE R.C. ACADEMY)

Note: This information was created by Catherine B. with help from her gran (former pupil) and father (former pupil and teacher).

Lawside R.C. Academy was opened on the 19th of August 1907. When it was first opened it was built in the Lawside Convent on Lawside road. The school was run for years by the Sisters Of Mercy who came from the convent. To get in to the school you had to pass a qualifying exam if you didn't pass this you had to go to a junior secondary school like St. John's. In those days the rules were very strict and the school uniform had to be the right colour. The girls wore a navy pinafore called a gymslip which was made of a material called serge. The pinafore had a thick Lawside braid around the neck and a belt around the waist. They had to wear thick black tights (which everyone hated) and of course black shoes. The boys wore grey shorts, shirts, jumpers and ties and black shoes. For P.E. they would wear their school clothes as the nuns didn't approve of the girls and boys getting changed in front of one another. In the summer all the pupils had to wear the Lawside blazer and in the winter when it was colder they wore a trench coat and hat over their blazers. The hat was joined to the coat and had to have the school badge on it. Few pupils in those days disobeyed these uniform rules as they would either get the belt or even worse get kicked out of the school. (Which now a days is considered as quite a harsh treatment for not wearing your school uniform. I mean if the rules now were that strict imagine how many pupils would be getting kicked out of their schools ! ) Another thing that has changed is that when Lawside was run in the Lawside Convent because it was too small the pupils stayed in the same class room all day and it was the teachers that moved from class to class every period. The only time they had to change was when they had P.E. or Science where they needed to move to suitable class rooms that had the things that were needed for these subjects like bunsen burners, cookers, or mats etc.

In 1966 the school moved to its present site and it has been here for many year now developing and changing into what is now a modern 6-year comprehensive school.

The 1990s

Here are some representative school uniform regulations in the 1990s.

Created: November 10, 1998
Last updated: August 28, 1999