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A lot of watching, Taffy? LOL I too wore uniforms to school until I was in 10th grade and I switched over to public schools here in the US. At my grammar school it was a grey plaid skirt with white blouse, red tie, and red beanie which was only worn for pictures and weekly Mass. Black and white saddle oxfords and red cardigan. We had to polish our own shoes and when I was old enough I ironed my own blouses until shortly after when perma-press came out.

I have to say I preferred uniforms because it was a struggle to keep up with the fashions when I was in public high school. I did not have as many outfits as the other kids and that caused me too much worry. At the Catholic school no one could tell who had money and who didn't and as a kid that unfortunately mattered. Actually there were subtle ways like school bags, book covers, etc.. The other way was that the kids whose parents had money brought their lunch and the rest of us had to buy ours. I believe it was 25 cents/day back in 1963. The milk was 4 cents when I started school n 1960 and we drank it at recess. the oldest kid brought the tuition each month in a small manilla envelope and your brought your milk money on Monday morning for the week.

The formative years are way under-rated, are they not? I will try to find a picture.

I went to a Catholic school for a few years in the US and we wore a uniform.

When I visited Ireland I noticed all the kids wore uniforms and assumed that all the kids must go to Catholic school and there must not be any public ones. Doh!

It wasn't until I moved to the UK that I discovered all kids wear uniforms. I think it's a great idea and wish we'd had to when I was in high school. I always thought the other girls had cooler clothes than mine.

Uniforms are still worn by all the kids in Jamaican schools - state schools or private schools. And I think it is a wonderful idea. As OnePaperKid says, you can't tell who's got money and who has not and it cuts out the competitiveness. I never objected to uniform - it was just a fact of life. I can't remember the uniform I wore in England but when I came to Jamaica at 8 I wore tunics - green in the first school and then navy blue in the other schools, all with white short-sleeved blouses which had to be cut in a particular way - you couldn't even have a different collar or neckline. The only thing I didn't like was the matching underwear - baggy 'knickers' with elastic at waist and legs. They came down to the knees (!) and were used for games instead of shorts. We always wore the prettiest panties we could under them so we didn't really think of them as underwear. My mother who was an artist and seamstress, re-designed the uniforms for several schools in Jamaica to make them more attractive and kid-friendly. Many of the uniforms she designed 40 years ago are still used!

That is really cool Jane. Yes those bloomers had elastic that cut in. An we used to tuck all the excess fabric in around the legs to make them fit tightly so they looked more like shorts.
I now think all schools should have uniforms and be mandatory but back then I didn't. When we had the choice later to not wear uniform, we didnt and I would not go back to wearing it. So kids should never have a say in it haha.

That is really interesting that your mom designed uniforms, Jane. And lucky you that you had green and navy as your colors. To this day I will not wear grey and I think it's because both my schools had grey plaid skirts. I became burned out with grey. One had red as the accent color and the other had grey blazers and grey ties. I always wanted Navy and so it's my favorite color still. We too wore shorts under our skirts and they called PE shorts even though we changed into blue jumpers in HS "Gym".

In grammar we wore "Petit Pants". It was the late 60's and it caused such a distraction with all the mod colors they came in that the school said "No more petite pants". LOL The girls would purposely sit on the black top before the bell rang in the morning so that the bottom few inches of their slips or petit pants would show. And it was definitely for each other as it was our only way of stating our fashion! LOL

My daughter attended Catholic schools her whole life and I have to say, it was a piece of cake buying her school clothes each year. There was only one place to buy them and you had an appointed time slot during the summer. Someone would fit them and the parents would then decided what/how many pieces to buy. They were made so well that her jumpers and walk shorts lasted 2 years each. I then was able to stagger the purchases with the sweater, shoes, blouses. As well we had used uniform sales held by the PTO. Parents would donate old uniforms and the school would use the money to help the teachers and administration as well as struggling families ;-) ;-)